


strangers in the night

by violetshour



Category: Dark (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Baby Jonas, Drug Abuse, F/M, Nightmares, W. Clausen, literally everyone has a secret in winden, regina has a secret and aleksander has a secret, so many characters - Freeform, this is your average fix-it-love-story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:33:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26622967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetshour/pseuds/violetshour
Summary: antiques shop & art gallery owner Regina Doppler & mysterious journalist Aleksander Köhler meet in the night of Winden.little do they know, love is just a 'share-your-dark-secrets' away.this is a coffee-shop au, without the coffee shop.sort of a fix-it story. original world.takes place after the dinner scene in the last episode.
Relationships: Aleksander Tiedemann | Boris Niewald/Regina Tiedemann, Bernd Doppler/Claudia Tiedemann, Peter Doppler/Bernadette Wöller
Comments: 36
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Dark. All rights belong to the wonderful & extraordinaire Baran Bo Odar, Jantje Friese & Netflix. I don't make any money with this fanfiction. 
> 
> The title is taken from the beautiful song by Frank Sinatra.
> 
> Did you noticed the interior of the “Kahnwald”–house at the end of the final episode? There were so many paintings and noble looking furniture, and my first thought was “Regina is an artsy-person now!”. And from this thought on this little story developed in my mind.
> 
> If you aren't bored yet of this kind of Regina/Aleksander saving Aleksander/Regina-romance-story-plot, then brace yourself for 10 chapters of Regina, Aleksander, Peter, Jana & Clausen & many others. Be prepared there will be a fire, angst and a little (hopefully not too obvious & amateur-like) mystery. <3

> _Humans aren't gonna behave as we think we always should_
> 
> _Yeah, we can be bad as we can be good_
> 
> – MARINA, _Savages_

The Doppler's house on the edge of the woods, had always been described as beautiful.

Due to the last summer's circumstances the Doppler's only daughter now lived behind the red-brick facade on her own.

To fill the empty space her parent's move had left, she regularly invited her friends over for dinner.

This time they celebrated the soon opening of her own business.

Like all of her friends, Regina was born and bred in Winden.

They were bound to stay in the town, until they would be old and grey.

But soon all of their simple lives would gain a little more trouble, but for now _nearly_ no one in the living room was aware of that...

“I think, Jonas is a beautiful name,” Hannah said and the group around the table agreed with her.

“It's beautiful indeed!” her husband Torben smiled proudly.

“That's a common name, but –“ Peter wanted to go far afield about the name origin,

but Katharina interrupted him, “Nobody in Winden is called Jonas. So it's a very good choice!”

They all laughed and Regina was grateful, that there was still room for keeping up the positive atmosphere,

which she feared could have been dulled by Hannah's description of her weirdly dream.

Regina didn't judged her.

She had her fair share of nightmares and she admired Hannah's courage to talk about it.

Regina was sure, she would never be able to tell anyone, about the things her brain made her see during her sleep.

Hannah should be lucky, it was only because of her pregnancy hormones.

“Winden has some news for us,” Peter said and put down his wine glass.

“Winden _and_ news in one sentence – wow,” Katharina laughed mockingly.

“Believe it or not –”

“Pete, spill the tea,” Bernadette nudged her elbow against his ribs and smiled at him conspiratorially.

“My father told me, two journalist rented one of the vacant offices at the newspaper.

They research about the clinic and the sleep laboratory.”

“Really, is it that easy?” Hannah asked wondering, “You can just rent a room there?”

“I guess, they're actually grateful for the extra money, aren't they?”

Regina said addressed to Peter, who shrugged with his shoulders.

“Did you like the article Helge wrote about you?” he asked her, instead of an answer.

Regina smiled and nodded, “Yes! Mama framed it and hang it up at the mansion.”

Peter's father worked as an editor at the newspaper.

Since he had written about Regina, her inbox overflowed with numerous inquires for exhibitions.

The town seemed to be very eager to present its newly awoken artistic creativity.

“I'll call him and say thank you for all the free promotion,” she got up, “I'm gonna get the Lasagne.”

While she took the potholders and opened the oven,

she heard how Torben asked, “What kind of people are they?”

“Papa said they seem odd. More like private investigators, than journalists. They're brothers, by the way.”

“Why Winden?” Katharina crossed her arms.

Regina emphatically put the casserole dish on the table, a little harder as she anticipated,

“Because we have the oldest and most innovative laboratory for somnology in europe!?”

“I didn't wanted to offend your family honor, Gina,” Katharina patted Regina's arm.

“Your parents achieved a lot, we are all proud –”

“The research results have a lasting effect on –”

This time Katharina interrupted her,

“Truth be told, there's no better place to open a lab, where people go to sleep, than in Winden!”

Even Regina chuckled.

“There's actually another one near Berlin,” Peter interposed.

“See?” Katharina said.

Regina rolled her eyes, “God, wouldn't it be nice if this town would gain a little more popularity?”

She sat down again and continued a little impatiently,

“They'll write a good report. Maybe people outside of Winden, will find their way in here.”

“I don't want to share my hometown, with some newly arrived strangers from the city,”

the blond woman muttered,

“I don't trust those so-called _journalists_. Nobody in his senses would come to Winden, without a peculiar motive.”

“You are unbelievable, Kathi,” Regina said enraged, but she couldn't help but smile.

Only Katharina Albers was able to hate furiously and love possessively at the same time, when it came to the town.

“Let's drink to that,” Hannah raised her glass of water and they all clinked their drinks together.

A few days later, Regina had an appointment in Peter's doctor's office.

He was talking to his mother, who as she saw Regina, hurried towards her to embrace her.

Ulla continued the conversation, which – Regina realised after a few sentences – was about Ulla's distant relative Jana.

“We are worried about her,” Ulla said, “She lives on her own. There's no family - except for me,”

“She suffers from visions, which tend to confuse her a lot,” Peter explained.

“What do you want to do about it?” Regina asked.

“Helge and I decided to take her in. The house has a spare room and she wouldn't be alone any more.”

“In addition to that: the hospital isn't far and Ines Kahnwald –”

“The nurse?” Regina asked.

Ines used to work in the sleep laboratory with Regina's father.

She retired a few years ago, but since then she was known for taking care

of a lot of Winden's residents, who were in need for medical help.

Ulla nodded, “She offered to help with the pills.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Regina encouraged.

“I will help you with the move. I can ask my mother, too.”

“Thank you, sweetie,” Ulla smiled relieved.

Regina and Peter sat down at his table as soon as Ulla left.

“You wanted to speak with me?” Peter asked,

Regina nodded and fished an orange pill bottle and a leaflet out of her handbag.

She handed both over to him, “I have a question on these.”

“I see,” he briefly looked at the label and read a few lines of the medication information.

“I know those – what do you want to know?”

“What happens if I stop taking them?”

Peter raised his eyebrows at her. He nervously turned the tablets in his hands.

“Form my knowledge, I'm sure there won't be any damaging side effects. If that's what you ask for.”

Regina nodded.

“But let me tell you, an irregular intake or a change in the dose can have serious consequences. Take them on a regular basis or don't.”

“Okay,” Regina said relieved.

“Do you actually want to stop taking them? Have you discussed this with your physicians? Are you under supervision?”

It hurt to lie to Peter, but she shook her head,

„No, don't worry. I'm just clumsy. I feared what could happen, if I forget to take them.”

She fake smiled at him.

„Regina, you aren't clumsy,“ Peter frowned and Regina avoided his gaze.

„Thank you for answering my question,” she held out her hand, but Peter hesitated.

“I'm here for you – if you... want to talk or – ”

Regina laughed, “I'm fine – I promise.”

Peter nodded and gave her the medicine back.

He knew there was more, but he didn't wanted to pressure her.

“I meant it,” Regina's said, while she put the objects back into her bag, “I'll help you with aunt Jana.”

„Do you know her?“ he asked with interest.

„Not really,” she shook her head. “I met her when I was a child. I remember being fascinated by her white strand of hair, back then.”

„That's not the only fascinating feature she got.“ Peter replied thoughtfully.

“What's the deal about her visions?”

“She's no psychic, but she _sees_ things.

She describes people, who aren't there, she observes natural phenomena, which nobody but her has noticed.

Sometimes, she remembers events from the past, but we aren't able to tell _which past_ she means,

because it's certainly not _our past,_ ” he looked out of the window.

“She spends a lot of time in the graveyard and during the last months she tended to get lost in the woods...”

Regina sat up. _The woods_ – so she wasn't the only one!

“The woods?” she asked and tried her best not to sound too excited.

“Yes. Something seems to be in there, like a connection, but she can't really explain it.

Besides, I guess, no one ever actually listened to her and tried to understand.”

Regina felt sorry for her. She swallowed, her throat was dry.

A lot of people had listened to her, they had asked questions and had ran tests on her over and over again –

but that couldn't help them to understand either.

“What do you think about it, Peter?” she saw, how he pondered his words for a moment.

He got up and looked, as if he searched for something in the filled bookshelf behind him.

He pulled an old, black file out of it.

It was unlabelled and very worn.

  
“Do you know the Tannhaus family, Regina?”

“Charlotte,” she remembered.

Peter nodded, “Ages ago, her grandfather researched about different dimensions and worlds.

His thesis was about the theory, that time isn't linear. At some point he gave up on it – but,”

he showed her the file. “This is the manuscript of the book, he wanted to publish.”

“How did you got it?”

“I don't know,” he raised his shoulders, “It was just there. Maybe because of my father,

but you know Helge – always lost in his thoughts. He isn't sure either, how it entered into our possession.”

Regina opened the front page: _A journey through time by H.G. Tannhaus_ was written in blue ink on a yellowed sticky-note.

“You read it?” she asked.

“At least I tried to. It's complicated, whole passages are missing or even blackened.

In the end it's more of a draft, than an actual book.”

Regina stroked with her fingers over the pages. They were written with a typewriter.

“Well, what I wanted to tell you,” Peter bent over to her and flipped a few pages until he reached a certain chapter.

“There is more to time, than we think to know. Dimensions. Worlds. You name it,”

he sat down in his chair again,

“Sometimes when I look at Jana, I think, what if,

there are _really_ other dimensions and what if those dimensions sort of _bleed_ into another,

influence another or have an impact on the other,“ he intertwined his fingers together.

“Jana has – in a metaphorical sense – bruises from those bleedings. The bruises are her visions. She has another connection, another access, than us.“

Regina's heart beaten fast in her chest.

“This is thrilling,” she whispered.

“Yes!” Peter's eyes winded, “Here,” he pulled a piece of paper towards him.

He took a pen and drew a _triquetra_.

“This is also a symbol for trinity – Father, Son, Holy Spirit,” he explained.

In his youth Peter actually had wanted to study theology, but when he got older he choosed psychology.

“Tannhaus always wrote about three worlds. So, one of these,”

he tapped on one of the three oval shapes,

“are we – our world. The other two, who knows. Imagine, if it's true what I said before, then,”

he pointed with his pen in the middle of the symbol, the spot where all the drawn lines overlapped,

“Jana would be here.”

“Incredible,” Regina felt a shiver running down on her bare arms.

“Yes, very incredible. I have to admit, I actually don't believe in this theory.

I believe in god and in the creation of our world. But it's fun to try to understand other concepts and other myths.

Also, Tannhaus' manuscript has found it's way to me for a reason,” he smiled and put down his pen.

“I believe Jana,” he continued, “I believe she sees things, we don't know about – she is neither mad nor senile.”

Regina was reassured by his words.

“I support my parent's wish to take care of her. They'll take her more serious, than a nursing home.”

Regina smiled, “You're much too good a person.”

Peter returned her smile.

She got up.

“May I?” she asked and took the paper with his drawing.

“Sure.”

_Perhaps_ , Regina thought, _I am sort of like Jana._

Maybe she was in the middle of something, no one would ever be able to explain, too.

> _There ain't language for the things I've seen, yeah_
> 
> _And the truth is stranger than my own worst dreams_
> 
> _The truth is stranger than all my dreams_
> 
> _-_ Lord Huron _, Meet me in the Woods_

The _Windener Tageszeitung_ is a grey building complex.

The moon reflects in it's windows.

The lights of an office illuminates the darkness of the night.

Two men are standing in front of a movable blackboard. Pinned on the surface are old newspaper articles about the clinic and the laboratory.

Next to them are photos, obviously taken on secretive observations.

One man hands a piece of chalk to the other.

He, who has dark-brown hair and seems to be younger than the other, puts the chalk on the board.

He writes two names under the pictures: _Bernd_ and _Claudia_.

An elderly woman, who wears a long blue wool-coat, stands in a tiny kitchen and looks outside her window.

She looks into the direction of the moon, but she doesn't see it.

She focuses on something else.

A storm is reflected in her grey-blue iris.

A swirling spiral of wind, tossing and turning clouds and leaves.

It seems to look straight back at her.

Her eyes meet with the eye of the storm.

Standing in her kitchen, Regina takes her orange pill bottle.

She puts one of the little white pieces into her mouth.

She is about to swallow the pill, but her glance gets caught by Peter's drawing, which lies on the table in front of her.

She spits the medicine out.

Peter sits in his office, as Bernadette walks in.

He ends a call and puts down the phone.

She reaches out her hand, “Come on, it's time. Let's go home!”

Peter gets up, kisses her and they both leave.

On their way out, his girlfriend asks, “Who was on the phone?”

“I called Claudia,” Peter answers.

“It was only about some pills.”

Claudia Doppler stands in the doorway and looks at her sleeping husband.

She closes the bedroom door quietly and goes downstairs into the hall.

She grabs her olive-green jacket and takes a blanket with her.

These days, the nights are especially cold.

She would need the extra warmth.

She is about to spent hours sitting in her old garden – Regina's garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually not so keen on completing "shattered glass & deja vu" because it makes me sad to let it end. So my coping mechanism is to start with a new fanfic, before I finish the last chapter!
> 
> This idea has been stuck in my head since June - can you believe it's been three months since the last episode?? me neither.  
> Chapter One is entirely introduction, so not much has happened, yet - but I hope you liked it <3  
> A & R will meet in Chapter Three & Chapter Two will mostly tell us why Regina has to take medicine.  
> Would love to read your thoughts, as always <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a I-want-to-hug-Regina(& Claudia & Jana & everyone else)-chapter, although I wanted to scream at her for most of time writing it. Have a good time reading <3

> _What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?_
> 
> _What are you wondering? What do you know?_
> 
> _Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?_
> 
> _When we all fall asleep, where do we go?_
> 
> – Billie Eilish _, bury a friend_
> 
> * * *

In 1986, the year she had turned fifteen, it had started.

At first, she suffered from nightmares.

She dreamt about the woods.

She always stood on a vast forest glade.

Regina only vaguely knew the actual location in reality, and back then she was sure, she never had been there before.

Depending on the dream, her hands were either tied up with a rope or soaked with blood.

She was alone, but she felt a presence of somebody _or something_ and she tried to follow it.

She ran through the dark. Around her the icy winds made the leaves whisper.

Just when she reached the entrance a cave, she was sure she would find, what she searched for in there.

That was the moment when she always woke up,

mostly bathed in cold sweat, exhausted as if she had been on a run,

with a loud scream on her lips and her heart beating so fast in her chest it hurt.

_What kind of cave was that?_

But the whole matter intensified from the night on, in which she awoke not in her bed, but _in_ the actual woods.

The memory of this traumatic situation haunted her for years.

She had dreamt the same dream, but when she woke up,

her bare feet touched the forest soil and she was surrounded with trees.

Regina had screamed her lungs out for help.

It had took her a moment to regain enough consciousness to orientate and see,

that she was only a few metres away from her family's backyard...

Their house was near the woods, but how did she got out of bed?

Her parents had been very alerted by the fact that their daughter,

not only suffered form severe nightmares, but also used to sleepwalk nearly every time she went to bed.

Nobody was able to find an explanation for it

– Regina had been raised in a very sheltered and nurturing environment.

A trauma, caused by something nobody was able to detect, seemed to happened to her over night.

One morning before breakfast,

she sat at the top of the stairs and eavesdropped on her parents conversation about her _problem_.

“She's always been a happy girl,” Claudia sounded upset.

She saw her mother's shadow, pacing back and forth in the kitchen.

Regina was sure, she was wringing her hands,

“She has friends, hobbies and good grades – she doesn't take drugs, she never even drank alcohol 

– do you think it's my fault? I'm spending to much time at work... 

Did we failed her? Did we  _ neglected Regina? _ ”  the panic in her mother's voice caused a shiver on Regina's arms. 

Her father sighed, the sound of a chair scratching over the floor,

“My darling, none of this is anyone's fault. You are a good mother.

I'm gonna find out, why our daughter is suffering and we'll find a way of dealing with it. I promise.”

She heard her mother's muffled sobs.

She observed the shadows of her parents embracing each other and she felt awful.

 _None of this was anyone's fault_ , her father was right.

She just couldn't handle the overwhelming thought, that she caused them agony...

The consequences of this phenomenon were widely spread.

Her parents Claudia and Bernd, who – at this time –

worked as scientists in the research laboratory of the clinic, got several physicians to check on their daughter.

But all their colleagues weren't able to detect a trigger or a reason for Regina's behaviour.

As a result Claudia quit, to spent more time with her daughter and on the research of sleep disorders.

Not leaving a very rebellious and pubescently Regina on her own, 

only lead to mother and daughter quarrels, because they unnerved each other very much.

  
Regina amused remembered theses days, which were mostly filled with her mother trying to tutor her.

“I'm able to solve my homework on my own!” she had shouted the house down in frustration,

“I'm sixteen, damn it! I don't need a babysitter! Go and fix someone else's maths problems!”

“Fine!” Claudia had yelled back.

That was the moment, when she decided to take a part-time job as a biology and chemistry teacher at the local school.

Her father Bernd on the other hand, had put together a team of experts,

with whom he gathered and exploited knowledge on the whole realm of parasomnia.

These efforts of long standing work lead to the now highly respected sleep laboratory, which helped and cured a lot of people.

Except Regina, who had spent countless hours and nights in a hospital bed,

connected with wires to monitors, doctors and nurses observing her from the window of a control room.

The _sleepwalking kid_ , the _screamer_ , the _spoiled rich girl_ , who was an _attention digger_ –

even being the daughter of the lab-director, couldn't save her from a long, hurtful list of hushed nicknames.

Katharina once had beaten up a boy, who called Regina “ _nightmare child_ ” in school.

Katharina had always been very protective of her.

Her strict mother Helene was a single parent, who worked mostly night-shifts at Winden's psychiatric hospital, which stressed her out.

In Kindergarten, Regina (“Shy like a deer and squeaky like a mouse”)

had often taken the blame for most of Katharina's (“Loud, bold and a head full of mischief”) mistakes.

She somehow knew, that Katharina would face more consequences than her.

The bravery of these acts of loyalty impressed the wild troublemaker.

So the little girl, with the auburn curls and her huge glasses,

and the tall-grown girl, with the blond straight hair and her ripped clothes became best friends.

When the episodes of night terrors and sleepwalking began,

Katharina had often stayed overnight at Regina's house.

The sleepovers didn't changed anything,

but at least they both weren't alone and Katharina never judged her.

She just got up from the floor, hugged Regina tight until she calmed down and guided her back to bed.

Her parents always tried to keep her away from medication.

They installed a door at the top of the stairs, which they locked,

to prevent Regina from going outside into the woods again and unconsciously tripping and falling.

Claudia developed a kind of motherly instinct radar, so she often got up during the night and checked on her daughter.

Apart from the safety planning, they had tried a lot – calming tea with bitter herbs, a night light...

There where times when it almost vanished and her sleep schedule got back to normal.

But there were also those weeks, in which Regina walked head first, against the looked door, every night.

Her parents never gave up on finding an explanation, but Regina herself proceeded to accept her fate.

It was a part of her.

Like everybody else she wanted to understand it, too.

Although, she didn't care any more, what had caused it in the first place.

She wanted to know, what the images, she saw during the night, were truly about.

Who was it, that she wanted to meet?

What did she searched for?

Why in the woods?

She wanted to explore, she wanted to find out on her own.

Her questions were never answered.

She grew up, got her a-levels, studied art and history,

but the whole time she stayed in Winden and lived along with her parents in the beautiful house near the woods.

She arranged herself with the fact, that she needed her parents around, to make sure she was safe, during the night.

Not that she never tried to life on her own or with somebody else...

Almost every man, she ever shared a bed with, had fled as soon as they had been woken up by her screams.

The ones who stayed had suggested her to move into a residential care home

– as if her bad dreams and sleepwalking were a disease, which made her a danger to herself.

It was a serious condition,

but nothing that would prevent her from living a live of self-determination and freedom.

So she always found her way back, behind the red-brick facade.

Everything had changed during last summer.

Bernd should have retired about 10 years ago,

but he had an insatiable desire to practice medicine and to research on the cure of sleeplessness.

What Doctor Doppler's wife and daughter had feared the most, happened during a surgery.

He collapsed and the stroke caused a paralysis of his legs.

From this moment on, staying in their little home was no option any more.

The huge Doppler mansion,

in which he had lived the years of his child-, adulthood and his first marriage,

was more accessible for his wheelchair and it was easier for Claudia and him to live there.

Regina insisted on keeping their house on the edge of the woods for herself.

After an exhausting, but brief period of discussions,

her parents reluctantly agreed to their grown-up daughter's plan on finally living on her own

– but only under the condition, that she had to take medicine, which should prevented her from sleepwalking.

Everything inside of her strove against taking pills.

Tears welled in her eyes, the first time she picked them up from the pharmacy.

The little white pieces were special ones, actually manufactured for her needs with the instructions of the sleep lab.

“Those are the best,“ her father had assured her.

After all these years, he was relieved, that his daughter could for once profit from his research.

She sat in her car crying and staring at the orange pill bottle, until Katharina knocked against the window.

Regina opened the door and failed miserably at the attempt to smile.

“Wow, you look awful,” Katharina told her dryly. “Let me in.”

Regina moved over on the passenger seat and Katharina drove them to the lake.

There she spread her jacket on the ground and they both sat down to look into the depts of the dark water.

“It's about the medicine, isn't it?”

Regina nodded, her nose was smeared and her eyes were puffy.

“I don't want to take them,” she sobbed,

“I know, it's gonna get better – but... I...” she caught her breath,

“I don't want to rely on regular medication,” she said and teardrops rolled down her cheeks.

Katharina took her into her arms, she said nothing, she just listened to Regina's complains.

“I don't want them in my body – I'm afraid.”

“It's okay,” Katharina reassured her, “Someday you won't –”

“What if not?” she interrupted her. “I'm a failure!”

Katharina grabbed her hand, “Taking medicine doesn't mean you failed – No Regina!”

“But it's my fault.”

“Nothing is your fault,” Katharina said determined.

“If I wasn't so stubborn to live on my own – ”

Katharina shook her head,

“You are a grown up woman. It's normal you don't want to be under observation for your whole life.”

Katharina looked into her eyes,

“Listen to me: the pills will help you. For now, they make you uncomfortable, but it will go away. They're here to support you.”

Her words were kind and eased the pain at least for while.

Sadly she wasn't right with her prediction.

Regina felt constantly uneasy. A certain unrest, which nothing could calm.

Since she took the pills, she dreamt about nothing at all.

The part of her brain which was responsible for everything connected to sleep felt as if it was stuffed with cotton.

When she got to bed, falling asleep unnaturally felt, as if someone flicked a switch.

She feared to loose herself, she missed dreaming and she lost the focus on detecting clues about the woods.

One day, she made up her mind to discontinue her medication, against all common sense.

There had to be a real reason, why she was drawn to the woods,

why she saw the cave and why she felt like there was something missing in her life...

_What if I am just a bad dream_ , Regina thought, _a nightmare in someone else's mind_.

 _Nothing to be afraid of_ – _I'll find out, what this is about._

Today was the third night.

She had started sleepwalking again, two days ago.

Midway through the morning, Regina was on her way over to Hannah's house.

Bernadette, Katharina and she were invited for a last gathering before the baby.

“Every day now,” Hannah had told them, “I need some distraction, please don't leave me on my own!”

Her phone rang, “Hey Mama!”

Regina stuck it between her ear and shoulder, while she put on her shoes.

“Gina-deer, I need your help!” Claudia sounded stressed.

“Is everything alright? Did something happen with Papa?” Regina asked.

“No, no – he's fine,” Claudia reassured her,

“It's about your grandparent's grave...

Pastor Molch, called me and said there were a complaint, because one of the plants grows over to the grave next to it.

It's beautiful, but apparently nobody in this town has a twinge of taste!

Well – if the hedge is not cut by tomorrow, Molch said Frau Döhring would do it herself.”

Regina glanced at the clock, she knew what her mother wanted her to do.

“She's such a nagging hag – imagine what she would do to Opa's grave!

The problem is, there are two conferences I have to attend to.

One at the school and the other at the executive board of the clinic,” Claudia said,

“I really have no time, would you please do it for me?”

“Of course, don't worry, Mama.”

“Thank you! You are my favourite daughter!”

“I am your only daughter.”

Claudia laughed, “Bye, Schatz.”

Regina groaned, it was cold and the sky was clouded with grey smears full of rain, which was about to come down.

She took her phone and texted

_graveyard emergency, won't make it on time, I'm coming later_

into her friends chat group.

_No problem :)_

Hannah promptly texted back.

_Don't take too long, you might miss the birth!_

Katharina answered.

_I'm going to the hospital alone!_

Hannah messaged in caps lock.

The grave of Doris and Egon Tiedemann had never been overgrown.

Claudia only took pleasure in letting the plants grew wild and free.

Regina took a moment to close her eyes and remembered her grandparent's faces.

They had been good people, with strong hearts and minds – she missed them dearly.

Even if it was for the purpose of garden work, she was grateful for spending a little time here.

She started cutting the leaking branches with the pair of secateurs, she brought with her to the graveyard.

As she was almost finished and raked up the fallen leaves, she heard steps approaching.

“They were much too good persons,” a voice said behind her.

She flinched at the sudden noise and turned around.

Jana was standing in front of her. Ulla's relative.

“That's why I called the gallery ' _Tiedemann_ ',” Regina replied,

“I needed to honour their names, somehow.”

Regina collected her tools.

Jana nodded, “Of course, like you always tried to.”

Regina blinked, Peter's words came to her mind,

'She remembers events from the past, but we aren't able to tell _which past_ she means.'

“Which grave are you visiting?” she asked.

“Mine aren't buried here,” Jana said and looked in the distance,

“So much is lost, but at least some things are bound, save under theses stones in the ground.”

“How poetic, you should write that down!” Regina got up on her feet and knocked the moist soil off her hands.

She wasn't sure how to interact with Jana, who seemed to have a sharp mind,

but something in her voice made her questioning, if she truly was alright.

There was a kind of dissonance or disconnection.

But her eyes were clear like the surface of water.

_Still waters run deep_ , she thought and took the basket with the earthy items.

She felt a deep sympathy for the woman and she remembered her promise to Peter.

“Do you want to go home? I could drive you, if you want to,”

she pointed in the direction were she had parked her car.

Jana smiled, “How kind.”

They went there silently and the next time Jana said something was,

when Regina already parked in front of the apartment building, in which she lived.

“I find comfort in the fact, that no matter which road you take, it will lead you out of it,”

Jana said toneless, “You cannot get lost in cemeteries, even if you intended to.”

Regina's hands clutched around the steering wheel.

“Unlike the woods,” Jana added.

_unlike the woods_

“What do you think about them?” Regina looked at her in expectation, Jana's eyes were fixated on something in the distance.

“The woods have seen _every_ time,” Jana turned to get out of the car.

“Wait – ” Regina reached for her arm.

“What do you –” but the look on the elderly woman's face made her silent.

They stared at each other for a brief moment, then she took Regina's hand in hers,

“I like how your wear your hair, nowadays,” she smiled.

“I bet this tight bun, gave you a lot of headaches, mmh?”

Regina frowned in confusion and touched the ends of her curly hair.

“Tight bun? I never –”

But Jana, now that Regina was distracted, got out of the car and closed the door.

She didn't even looked back and the conversation was over.

_There is more to time, than we think to know._

_She has another connection, another access, than us._

It took Regina a moment, till she remembered, that she was expected at Hannah's.

Bernadette opened the door of her brother's house,

“Girl, you should get your nails done,” she greeted her.

Regina looked at her hands. They were smeared with gravel soil,

“Oh, I had no chance to wash them.”

“You know where the bathroom is – I'm gonna hug you, when your fingers aren't contaminate with deadly dirt.”

Regina laughed and stretched her hands in Bernadette's direction, who jumped away from her.

Once her fingers where clean, she went into the living room, where Hannah lied on the couch.

“My back is killing me,” she whimpered, with her eyes closed.

Katharina leaned against the windowsill and waved.

“Hi,” she said.

Bernadette got up from her place in an armchair and embraced her as promised.

“What kind of emergency was waiting for you on the graveyard?” she asked.

Regina shortly told them about Claudia's call.

“And I met Jana there –”

“Ulla's Jana?” Bernadette asked.

Regina nodded, “Do you know her?”

“I love her. She's a pure soul. But she's kinda psychic – it's disturbing.”

Hannah groaned loud and they both turned around.

“Are these contractions?” Katharina asked.

Hannah nodded her face twisted with pain.

“Let me get you to the hospital!” Regina said alarmed.

Hannah shook her head, “The midwife told me to stay at home until my water breaks...”

Regina sat down next to her and took her hand. Hannah hold onto it tight.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Katharina asked

Hannah shook her head.

“Just stay with me,” she said out of breath.

“Where's Torben?” Regina asked. She just noticed, that he wasn't in the room.

Hannah looked questioning at his sister,

“Am I my brother's keeper?” Bernadette quoted from the bible.

“Peter's obsession with theology, has a huge influence on you,” Regina chuckled.

“It's about Claudia's daughter,” Jana said.

Ines Kahnwald looked up from the pill organizer box.

She weekly prepared the medicine container for her friend – she would always be the nurse, she used to be.

“Regina?”

Jana nodded. “There's a storm coming,”

Ines saw, how Jana pointed out of the window.

“The weather report didn't said –”

Jana shook her head, “The storm is for her!”

“What do you mean?” Ines asked patiently.

Jana sat down next to her and grabbed her hand.

“When the time comes, you'll have to take care of her. 

She needs someone she can rely on. No matter what, you need to trust Regina.”

Ines blinked.

“What kind of help would she need from me? Is she in danger?”

“Promise me, you'll trust her.”

Ines looked down at their intertwined fingers.

Claudia, Jana and her had been close friends in their youth.

She considered the three of them as friends still... 

Even after all those years, since they actually took the time to meet with each other on a regular basis. 

Jana looked so troubled. 

“I promise,” Ines said.

This night would be the third in a row,

which Claudia would spent sitting on one of the wooden chairs on the terrace, in the garden of Regina's house,

A lot of bones hurt in her old body.

She immediately had known, what Peter had wanted to tell her on the phone.

“She showed me the medicine,” Peter had said nervously,

“She asked of the consequences of quitting...”

Claudia had seen this coming.

Regina had a mind on her own.

By that time, she still even hoped, she was wrong

– but she left the side of her sleeping husband, nevertheless and drove out upon the edge of the woods.

She tiptoed in the garden, wrapped herself in the blanket and waited.

It didn't took long, she heard the sound of steps in the house behind her.

Her heart broke at the sight of her daughter,

who oddly wore shoes, jeans and a pullover, walking out in the backyard.

Her eyes were opened wide, but they only stared a glassy-eyed and her face had a blank expression.

She walked over the grass towards the trees.

Claudia got up and followed her, but she kept her distance.

_Where are you headed, Regina?_

Claudia asked herself how long it would take for her to wake up.

Thirty minutes had been the longest period, they had ever measured on her...

As Regina sank down on the ground, Claudia hid behind a group of trees.

She witnessed how her daughter came to herself.

The younger woman shivered for a brief moment and looked around in panic.

It moved Claudia to tears, but she suppressed the urge to ran over to her daughter.

Regina got back on her feet and took her smartphone out of the pocket of her jeans.

The screen illuminated Regina face and Claudia saw, that she smiled.

Her fingers tapped a few seconds on the surface, before she started her way back to her house.

Claudia waited a moment. She was devoured by curiosity and fury.

She followed her through the darkness of the trees and observed how Regina went inside.

The living room lighted up.

Claudia saw through the terrace door, that Regina took a pen and bend over the table to write something.

Then she turned off the lights, presumably she went back to bed.

Claudia needed time to process.

But before the night ended she made up her mind, to keep an eye on Regina in the following. 

Three nights had passed since then.

Regina sleepwalked secretly.

Claudia was convinced, she did it with intention.

Regina awoke on the forest glade, but this time she didn't sprawled on the ground, at least.

It always took her mere seconds, until her disorientation faded.

She took her phone out of the pocket of her trousers and opened the app with the map and saved the

geographic coordinates of her location.

“You think you'll get away with this?”

Regina almost dropped her phone

– a voice and the blinding light of a torch cut violently through the silence and darkness of the night.

“Mama?” she whispered in shock.

Claudia walked closer to her.

Her daughter's dilated pupils, shrunk together in the glow.

“What were you thinking?” she asked coldly.

Regina could feel her mother's anger on her skin.

“It's not what you think,” she said weakly.

Her mother grabbed her upper arm and dragged her along with her.

For a woman getting on in her years, her mother was still astonishingly powerful.

“Discontinuing your medications. I knew it!”

she muttered under her breath, while Regina stumbled next to her.

“I can walk alone, leave me alone!”

She tried to free her arm, but her mother just walked further.

In the distance, they could see the outlines of the house.

“I didn't stop taking the pills, they don't have an effect –”

“Stop lying!” Claudia pushed her into the garden.

“I helped developing this medication! I _created_ them – I know how very _damn_ well they work!”

She let go of her daughter and got into the living room.

She strode to the table and pulled the map, which lie there, towards her.

It was a map of the woods and Regina had noted her different positions on it.

 _WHERE'S THE CAVE?_ was written in big red letters on it.

“Three nights!” she showed her the number with her fingers and waved with her hand in front of Regina's face.

“Don't you dare to deny it!”

Regina stood in front of her.

She said nothing and crossed her arms.

“You are only dreaming! There are NO CAVES!” Claudia exclaimed.

“That's not true!”

“From now on I will make sure, that somebody will always be here, to see if you truly take your medicine.”

“Are you daft?” Regina tried to take the map out of her mother's grip.

“I'm not gonna take them any more!”

“Oh, I promise you will!”

“How did you know?”

The question threw off her Claudia's balance.

She avoided her daughter's piercingly gaze.

“I... have sort of a radar”

“Mama”

“Peter called.”

Regina's heart sunk.

“And how right he was to do so! Look at you! You are sleeping in these clothes! You planned this!”

“Has he ever heard about _confidentiality_?” she screamed.

Peter's betrayal hurt. “It's his duty as a doctor to –”

Regina felt a sting on the inside of her nose.

“You're bleeding,” Claudia said in fright

and frantically searched around the room for a cloth to put against Regina's nose.

“Stop!” Regina warded off her mother's attempts to help her.

“I'm fine” Regina tried her best to wipe away the blood with her fingers, but it was too much.

She swore, went to the kitchen sink and let the red liquid drop on the silvery surface.

“I'm sorry,” she heard Claudia saying behind her,

“I didn't want to upset you, but you have to understand, I am worried about you!”

Regina turned around to face her. Claudia blinked and looked away.

“I can't bear the fear of you sleepwalking in front of car or breaking your neck on the stairs,”

her feelings overwhelmed her and she put her hand in front of her mouth.

“I don't own you. You have a right to be independent, but I beg you to take the medicine!”

Her mother never cried.

Regina couldn't even remember, when the last time was she had saw her this sad...

Then she remembered the moment she had witnessed her parents at the beginning of the nightmares.

“Please, don't go into the woods any more,” Claudia sobbed.

“Mama,” Regina went towards her and took her into her arms.

Damn it.

 _I am a bad dream_ , Regina thought, _a nightmare in my mother's mind_.

* * *

> _ the innocents flock like sheep _
> 
> _ their efforts all in vain, the wolf is back again _
> 
> _ I hope he comes for me _
> 
> _ I'm not outrunning him, and I'm not gonna scream _
> 
> _ I'm gonna follow him _
> 
> _ I know his name _
> 
> \- Lily & Madeleine, _The Wolf is free_

Claudia calms down, but she persuades Regina in taking one of the pills, before she leaves.

The moment Regina is alone, she vomits the medicine into the kitchen sink.

She decides to discontinue taking them, despite her mother's wish.

In the rented office at the _Tageszeitung_ building, 

the man with the dark-brown hair, copies data from a computer onto a portable device.

The evidence, he hopes, will be his key to escape.

The other man comes in and the younger man gets up. 

He hands a few pages over to him. 

“The samples you wanted,” he says.

“We need something to get them into thinking, we would actually work in favour of them.”

Claudia arrives at the Doppler mansion. 

She feels exhausted and devastated.

Regardless of what happened, she tries to trust her daughter.

She goes upstairs.

Her husband Bernd is awake and waits for her.

“What has she done?” he asks and Claudia starts to tell him.

Regina carries her bedclothes onto the couch downstairs.

If she can do one thing, it is to make sure, 

her mother's fear of her falling down the stairs won't come true.

She still wears her shoes, as she lays down.

“I'm sorry, Mama” she says out loud and closes her eyes.

On the table her phone's screen shows an incoming message.

It's from Katharina.

_ Hannah's water broke, it's timeee! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was much. Never before I worked on a chapter for SOO long – thanks for your patience & reading this 15 pages document!!  
> Shout-out to all those wonderful human-beings, who listen & take care of others, when they need support <3  
> Ask for help & don't forget: you are loved, you are enough and you are not alone! <3
> 
> to my dear peaches_n_roses, thank you so much for motivating me as always <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU-Origin-World Regina & Aleksander meet!!
> 
> a little trigger warning: there will be description of violence & there will be blood, injuries & they'll need stitches (but the stitches part is very brief and not detailed).  
> Also one character has a panic attack as a reaction to a traumatic event.
> 
> but nevertheless, I really hope you have a good time reading this <3

> _I prayed my mind be good to me_
> 
> _An awful noise filled the air_
> 
> _I heard a scream_
> 
> _In the woods somewhere_
> 
> _A woman's voice_
> 
> _I quickly ran into the trees_
> 
> \- Hozier, _In the Woods Somewhere_

* * *

In 1986 it had started.

At first, he hadn't thought about his nightmares as something special.

The year he had turned twenty, had been a very hard one for him – so taking the trouble into his sleep was not surprising at all.

He always ran in a forest glade.

There was blood on his shirt, an all too familiar gun in his shaking hands.

He was always alone, except for the voice of a girl.

Convinced that she was in danger and in need of help, he tried to follow her.

He ran through the dark woods, but he never reached her.

Years passed. The voice grew up, along with him.

He never knew, who she was and why she called for him.

Soon he started considering the nightmares as dreams.

A way to escape reality and the problems his life contained.

It seemed impossible to imagine, that there had been a time in his life,

when his name hadn't been _Aleksander_ and he hadn't been on the run.

Then they had accepted the job offer.

Winden.

The town had turned his nightmares into insomnia.

His restlessness during his dreams was now a restlessness in the night.

The woods he had seen in his dreams for years, were the woods he now walked through, when he couldn't find sleep.

He didn't feared what could happened to him – was there anything worse, than being trapped in Clausen's reach?

And then one night, as he walked through the streets, he heard a scream.

The woman from his dreams.

> _Up to the moment_
> 
> _when we said our first hello,_
> 
> _little did we know_
> 
> – Frank Sinatra, _Strangers in the Night_

* * *

Katharina and Regina both cried as they saw the newborn.

They sat close together on the edge of Hannah's hospital bed and cradled the boy between them.

The saying ' _It takes a village to raise a child'_ applied to the weeks following Jonas' birth.

As a woman, who had recently given birth, Hannah was cared for in her home by her friends.

So the house was filled with trustful hands to help with the baby and the housekeeping.

Even Claudia, who always claimed to be exceptionally busy,

found time to cook meals, along with Jana and Ines, for the new parents.

Everyone could hear the ripples of laughter of the three elderly women.

Their cheerful voices drifted from the kitchen into the other rooms of the house.

It was a delight.

Hannah and Torben, both exhausted and overwhelmed with a newborn, were grateful for all the support their environment granted them.

As much as Regina admired her new role as a kind of aunt, she felt a certain bitterness, when she stayed at the Wöller's.

Since her mother had confronted her about her sleepwalking attempts, she hadn't talked a word to Peter.

She avoided him.

Being surrounded by her friends, the people she loved the most beside her parents, had always had a calming effect on her

– but now the very thought of Peter made her blood boiling. She couldn't bare being near him.

It hurt her and she missed Bernadette.

Of course, she wouldn't dare to make a scene in a house with a few days old baby and a puerpera.

So she used to leave abruptly, every time he and Bernadette came over to visit.

Regina hung out the laundry in the living room, while Hannah breastfed her child.

The new mother looked at a flyer, which Regina had brought over.

“This is amazing, Gina,” she said and smiled at her,

“I am sad, I'll miss your first real exhibition...”

Regina stopped her apology with a wave of her hand.

“Don't be. There are so many more to come! You won't miss anything,” she ensured.

“We are very happy for you – aren't we, Jonas?” Hannah caressed the baby's cheek.

“Aunt Regina has build up a business and one day, she'll teach you everything about art!”

she told him sweetly.

Regina laughed quietly.

“Thank you – now relax. You deserve to rest.”

Hannah nodded gratefully. She held out her hand and Regina took it.

“Have you talked to Peter?” she asked, with a serious look on her face.

Regina looked down.

Hannah stroked her thumb over the back of the other woman's hand in a reassuring manner.

Regina shook her head.

“But you will?”

She avoided Hannah's glance.

“I'm not sure, yet.”

“He never wanted to hurt you.”

Regina pulled her hand out of Hannah's grip.

“That remains to be proved,” she said highly reserved.

Hannah sighed, “No need to get nasty, dear.”

Regina grabbed the empty laundry bin,

“I am not nasty.”

“You are and you are stubborn. He only wanted to –”

“Help?” Regina interrupted Hannah, but then closed her eyes for a moment.

She needed to calm down. Jonas' sensitive ears shouldn't hear the anger in her voice.

“I can't believe it. He always needs to know everything and everybody thinks that I am in need of spoon-feeding, since I am a teenager.”

“I know you're angry – ”

“Yes, I am angry. And I have the right to be. Please Hannah, stop pressuring me,” she told her and left the room.

“Your Auntie Gina isn't always such a hard woman,” Hannah whispered to her sleeping son.

“She just can't stand not being taken seriously. But her heart is the warmest of all. You'll see.”

To make sure Regina actually took her medicine, either Claudia or Ines came over every evening.

Regina never even bothered to pretend, that she was okay with it.

She hated to do somebody's bidding – and they should know it.

Tonight it was Ines' turn.

“I know, it isn't very nice to be chaperoned.”

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _Not very nice, indeed._ She tried to relax her facial expression.

“Try to understand, you mother only has your best interests at heart,”

the retired nurse laid a pill into Regina's palm.

“Am I not the best person to decide what's best for myself?” Regina said sharply and put the little white piece into her mouth.

“Sometimes we don't know what's _best_ for ourselves,” Ines smiled kindly and passed her a glass.

As she looked over to the clock, Regina gulped the water.

“Okay, I have to go,” Ines took the keys of her car and went for the door. “Jana is waiting for me,” she explained.

“Jana?” Regina followed her.

“I look after her, as well. Soon, she will move in with Ulla and Helge,”

Regina nodded to show her, that she already heard about the plan.

“But as long as she still has stay in the tiny apartment on her own, I want to make sure she's fine.”

“Thank you,” Regina felt a wave of sympathy towards Ines rush over her.

 _It's not Ines' fault, I'm angry_ , she thought. _She's always ready to help_.

“Jana is my best friend, like Claudia.”

Regina smiled. Claudia's concerns about her husband and all her efforts for the hospital and school, had made her really lonely.

So she was very glad, her mother was on her way to befriend with her old _besties_ again.

She came up with an idea.

“May I invite you?” Regina handed the flyer for the exhibition over to her.

Ines' eyes grew wide, “Thank you!” she exclaimed. “I'll take Jana with me.”

Regina nodded, „I'd love to have you both there!”

After Ines had closed the door behind herself, Regina opened her mouth.

With her fingers she fetched the wetted pill from under her tongue.

This procedure had been going on for a while now.

Every evening, Regina succeeded anew, doing exactly the opposite of what everybody else wanted her to do.

She sleepwalked, but she never came as far as she wished.

The map, she hid under the wooden floorboards, was now marked over and over with her several positions.

The question about the caves wasn't answered, yet.

No matter how often she tried to connect the different dots...

But her thoughts were crystal clear. The feeling of her cotton stuffed brain had vanished.

This was the right path, she was sure about that.

The gallery had been Regina's dream, since she started studying art.

So many things were hidden in plain sight – she loved to search and interpret the paintings and works for mysteries and stories.

It was so much more _fun_ , than running through the woods at night.

Her own space, in which she could do whatever she wanted to. A tiny possibility to have her own part in the process of shaping and creating Winden.

Every morning, as she unlocked the doors, she felt proud of herself.

Of course, she had high hopes for the town's residents' innate curiosity, but she was surprised how many people had found their ways into her little artful space.

She was grateful for every person, who walked through the door and visited the gallery – except for _one_.

The moment Peter walked past her, she knew, her chance had come.

She grabbed his arm.

“Hello Regina!” His audacity! Wasn't he feeling ashamed or guilty at all?

“What are you –” his smile vanished the moment he saw how her eyes glinted with wrath.

Wordlessly she pulled him out of the reach of everyone else, dragged him past her office and pushed him through the backdoor into the empty yard.

“You think you can just swoop in here and pretend as if nothing happened?”

she hissed through gritted teeth, as she let go of his arm and walked a few steps away from him.

A muscle in his jaw twitched, he looked as if he was about to say something, but she didn't wanted to hear it.

“You _snitch_!” she snapped, “What gives you the right to run to my mother?”

Immediately he knew what she was talking about.

“We are worried about you, Regina,” he said calmly.

She resisted the urge to punch him.

“Stay out of my business, Peter!”

“I am a physician, I –”

“Physicians have confidentiality.” she interrupted him.

“I thought, you'd spoke to me as your friend,” he replied helplessly.

“I thought, you'd wished for an advice,” Peter raised his hands in defence.

With every word from him, Regina's nerves grew thinner.

Her heart beat fast in her chest.

She couldn't help but snarl, “And I thought, I could trust you! You betrayed me!”

“ _Trust_?” Peter took a step towards her, “Regina, YOU lied to me!” he pointed with his finger in her face.

Defiantly, she crossed her arms and raised her chin.

“You always lie! You said, you were fine!” he told her.

“I AM FINE!” she yelled. This was too much. She pushed past him.

She was at the end of her patience. How could he turn the blame on her.

She had nothing to reproach herself for, it was his fault!

“Wait,” Peter grabbed her upper arm, to prevent her from leaving.

“Don't you dare touch me!” she yanked her arm out of his grip and shut the door behind her with a loud bang.

Coming to rest in the little bathroom next to her office, she supported herself on the sink.

There was this certain sting in her nose, again. The same she had felt, when her mother and her had argued.

Everything was Peter's fault.

She took a deep breath and felt a little bit relief, at least.

It had felt good to scream.

He should know, how truly disappointed she was.

Tonight was her moment to let the gallery shine – she owed it to the artists, who provided their works for her.

She smiled at herself in the mirror.

“Everything will be alright,” she whispered encouraging.

As she walked out the door, she nearly collided with her mother.

“There you are, Schatz!”

Claudia had pinned up her long gray hair and wore a dress as well.

She held a glass with champagne in her hand.

“Peter told me I would find you here.”

Regina rolled her eyes. Was he really not able to talk to Claudia without mentioning her?

“Would love to know, how your meetings usually go,” she asked snappishly.

“You and Peter see one other and instead of asking ' _how are you?_ ' y'all asking ' _What's up with Regina?_ '.”

Claudia shook her head, “No, that's not true.”

“Well, let me tell you, it feels very real to me.”

Her mother stroked over her arm in a pacifying manner.

“You don't need to be nervous,” she said, in an attempt to change the topic.

 _You have no idea_ , Regina thought.

“Please come with me. Have a look what you've done!”

Claudia took the hand of her adult daughter and pulled her with her, back into the shop and exhibition area.

“Where is Papa?” she asked.

“With Bernadette.”

The women needed a moment til they passed the gallery visitors.

Claudia Doppler was way too popular in Winden.

Being part of the head of the boards at the clinic and the director of the local school - everybody wanted to talk to her.

As a little child, Regina sometimes had felt like the daughter of a real celebrity.

These days, it annoyed her.

When she met new people, they often only considered her as the child of _THE DOPPLERS_.

No questions where asked about _her_ any more, when the conversation became a kind of interview about her parents.

_Am I not worthy of interest?_

She wanted to ask.

_See, I own a gallery and a shop now._

_No, I no longer serve as a guinea pig for my parent's studies._

Regina caught sight of her father and freed her hand out of her mother's grip and went over to him.

Bernadette hunkered down in front of his wheelchair and they talked.

Thank god, Peter was nowhere to be seen.

But his father Helge stood beside them.

He raised his camera into Regina's direction,

“There she is! Winden's _grande dame_ of art!” he said and took a photo of her.

Regina laughed, “Thank you.”

“I need you to describe me some of your impressions for the newspaper,” he told her.

“Of course, Helge,” she nodded.

He was the only person, she liked to be interviewed by.

Helge always treated her as a little sister.

Their age difference never mattered to both them.

Bernadette got up and hugged her tight.

“I missed you,” Regina whispered into her ear.

“Same, little red riding hood,” Bernadette said.

The both hadn't talked to one another since she stopped speaking with Peter.

It wasn't fair of her to exclude her from her life, as well, but Regina just couldn't deal with Bernadette's boyfriend right now.

After they moved apart, none of them was sure what to say, so Regina turned to her father.

The gallery was filled with the noises of clanking glasses and hubbub of voices.

She bend down to him, so he was able to understand her better.

“I am proud of you, daughter,” he said, a little out of breath, but his eyes gleamed bright.

He was far from being old and feeble. The grip of his hand on hers was still firm.

“Thank you, Papa,” she kissed his cheek, “Are you alright?”

He nodded, “Yes, Frau Wöller just told me –”

a hand pattered on Regina's shoulder and she flinched.

“Sorry for being late – good evening, Bernd,” Katharina shook his hand.

Bernd smiled warmly at her, “Hello dear Kathi!”

Since Katharina had spent weeks sleeping in Regina's room in their first phase of nightmares, he was very fond of her.

He even once told her, that he considered her as a kind of daughter.

Regina remembered how the tough teenage girl had failed at the attempt to fight back her tears of joy, by his declaration.

Katharina's relationship to her own parents had never been actually well.

The Doppler's house always had been her _real_ home for her.

“I was at Hannah's,” Katharina continued her excuse.

“No problem, I am glad, you're here!” Regina embraced her.

“This is madness, Gina.”

Regina chuckled at the peculiar compliment.

“Thank you.”

“Next time, it's your turn to talk to all the parents, Kathi,” Claudia said as she approached them.

She put a hand on Bernd's shoulder.

“Thanks for doing the round,” Katharina smiled at her.

“I think, there's nothing which I hate more, than talking to school-parents.”

Bernd patted the hand of his wife with his, “Except for _french delegations_ , darling.”

“Yes! Ughhh, I long for someone to deal with them, so I don't have to.”

The room around them was humming with activity, music, conversations and laughter.

Katharina, who had exchanged her champagne for wine, nudged her elbow into Regina's side.

She looked up and saw that Peter was on his way towards them.

“Hey, are you coming outside for a smoke?” Katharina asked.

Regina nodded, happy for the chance to avoid him.

She didn't smoke herself, but since school, she had accompanied her friend.

They went outside into the mild summer evening.

A few people stood around, talked and smoked as well.

“It's really crazy, how y'all hit the ground running,” Katharina took out a cigarette from her purse.

“Hannah and Baby Jonas; You have a business, now; Peter has his own office and Bernadette, she is so gorgeous – I have nothing to offer compared to y'all.”

She had a hard time with the lighter. Regina took it from her hands and shook it.

“You really think that?” Regina asked, as she lit the cigarette for her.

Katharina shrugged her shoulders, took a deep drag and she looked towards the street.

“Are you happy?” she exhaled the smoke.

Regina laughed, “You do know,” she made a sweeping gesture towards the building behind her,

“All these people are here because of _me_ and my work?”

Katharina rolled her eyes, “Of course! And I am very merry proud of you –”

she stroked Regina's auburn curls over one of her shoulders, “but answer the question! Are you happy?”

“Aren't you? I don't get why you asking.”

“Ach,” Katharina shook her head with a pained expression.

“It's because of my mother,” she tapped the ash off her cigarette.

“She wants me to make something of my life – ” she interrupted herself as she saw the look on Regina's face.

She giggled, “Next time you and your face are talking to her – I bet she wouldn't dare and tell _you_ to do _something,_ ”

“I don't get her. Stop listening to her – You are the principal!”

“Your mama is the principal, I am only the _vice_ principal.”

Claudia had took her under her wing since they had been in kindergarten.

Like her husband, she considered _Gina and Kathi_ more as sisters, than best friends.

“But this is SOMETHING!” Regina exclaimed.

“Yes, but mother means getting engaged, married, pregnant – the typical small-town way.”

“Nonsense, you never even wanted all those things. Don't let her pressure you into this.”

Katharina still looked stressed.

“I am not engaged, married or pregnant, as well,” Regina bumped her shoulder against hers.

“Yeah, but you are okay with it.”

Regina sighed, there was nothing she could say against this.

She felt perfectly fine on her own. Nothing was missing in her life...

Except for the solution of the mystery in the woods and her dreams, which actually was a huge part, a sometimes painful void...

But she didn't wanted to tell Katharina about her secretly sleepwalking, yet...

She had been too worried about her, when she had found out, why Regina was so angry at Peter.

“I don't want to end up old and lonely in _Winden_.” Katharina complained.

“You'll be old, successful and surrounded by us,” Regina squeezed her shoulder.

“Besides, there is so much time – don't let your mother put too much pressure on yourself! You are already enough. Who needs a man, any way?”

Katharina grounded her cigarette,

“If none shows up on time, I'm gonna marry you.”

Regina chuckled, while Katharina took the remains of her cigarette and threw them into a bin.

“Oh, we would instantly become the stars of the town's gossip!”

“You are the best.”

Regina, who was still laughing, wrapped her arm around Katharina's shoulders and they went back inside.

Later that evening, Regina stood in front of a picture of her grandparents, she had hung up in the entrance hall.

“They are proud of you,” a voice next to her said.

How did Jana always managed to sneak up on her unnoticed.

“You've made me jump!” the younger woman said, trying to shake off the goosebumps of her body.

Jana only laughed softly, but her face remained tense.

“He isn't here,” she looked around the room.

“Who?” Regina sipped on her water.

She still pretended to be on alcohol-incompatible medicine, so no champagne for her.

“Your man on the run.”

“My what?” Regina snorted with laughter.

“Don't be sad,” Jana stroked over Regina's cheek.

“Jana, what do you mean?” Regina pleaded.

“You're beautiful,” the elderly woman told her dryly, turned around and left.

Regina needed a moment until she grasped what had happened.

She put her glass aside and followed her through the crowd of people.

If necessary, she would shake Jana, to get a response from her.

She strode past the paintings.

Suddenly she tripped over something and stumbled forward.

“Careful!” someone caught her by the middle.

“God, thank you!” she grabbed on Helge's arm.

He helped her to return into a upright position.

“Are you okay? You look distressed,”

“I am,” she supported herself onto his shoulder, while she got her feet into her heels again.

“Have you seen Jana? I need to talk to her!”

“Why?”

“Lately, she tells me so many cryptic things, but she never explains herself,” she looked over his shoulder, but Jana had vanished.

“Tick Tack.”

Regina looked at Helge.

“Excuse me?”

“That's what Jana tells me, every time I talk to her. Only _tick tack,_ ” he replied.

“Why?”

“I don't have a clue. But I don't think, she says those things to annoy or mock you – at some point it will make sense,” he said reassuring.

Regina looked at her half-brother, who smiled cheery at her.

She nodded, “You're right.”

He took a pen and a notepad out of his camera bag.

“Are you ready for the Windener Tageszeitung?”

Regina nodded.

The last light of the summer evening faded as the rooms of the gallery emptied.

Her parents had left half an hour ago. Katharina and Bernadette were the only ones left.

They helped her to collect all the glasses from the high tables.

Darkness overshadowed the street, as the three of them went out.

Regina locked up the door behind them.

“Are you coming with me?” she asked her friends.

Katharina and Bernadette exchanged serious glances.

They shook their heads. Mere seconds later, as Peter walked out of the shadows in front of her, Regina understood.

“What the –”

“The two of you need to talk!” Bernadette interrupted her.

“No!” Regina snapped and bent down to opened the lock of her bicycle.

“Oh you will,” Katharina told her, “Come on, Berni. I'll walk you home.”

“See you later,” Bernadette kissed Peter on the cheek and squeezed his arm in a reassuring manner.

“Bye,” she waved into Regina's direction, but Regina didn't bother returning the gesture.

 _Traitor_ , she thought.

He smiled at his girlfriend and watched the two women walking down the street into the town.

Regina pushed her bike past him and followed them into the dark.

She needed to walk into the opposite direction to reach her house on the edge of the woods.

Peter caught up with her and for few minutes he walked silently next to her.

A few flickering lamps guided the way along the field path.

“Regina, I –”

“It's entirely your fault everybody treats me like a person of unsound mind,” she raised her voice over his.

“Do you have an idea how humiliating it is, to be watched when you have to swallow pills?”

He opened his mouth to response, but Regina didn't got him a chance to speak.

“Not to mention, that I never wanted to take them in the first place!”

She quickened up her pace, the wind blew through her hair.

The air was charged with electricity – she could feel her blood rushing through her veins.

“I didn't wanted to –”

“You don't get this, do you?”

She stopped abruptly and he saw how the rage nearly consumed her.

“I'll never talk to you again! I don't want to hear your apologies – leave me alone.”

“YOU ARE LIKE A SISTER FOR ME!” he yelled, “I am worried about you! I only want what's –”

“ _Best_ for me?” Regina scoffed,

“I am not your sister. If anything, I am your aunt,” she said witheringly,

“But I don't want to be that either,” she added and immediately recognized the pain in his eyes.

“Go home.”

Peter didn't move.

“I said GO!” she screamed and he stumbled backwards.

She got on her bike and pedalled away.

The cold air of the night hurt her face, hot tears ran along her cheeks.

She speed up, the more distance between them the better.

A loud scream cut through the night. Her brakes screeched as she turned her bike around.

The wide-spaced streetlights made it hard for her to see.

The shapes of _two_ people. She narrowed her eyes to a slit.

Several things happened at the same time.

One person walked towards the other and the noise of Peter's cries caused her heart to stop.

“No,” she shouted out and as fast as she could drove back to the point were she had left Peter minutes ago.

She jumped from her saddle, grabbed her bike and pushed it against the legs of the hodded figure, who was hunched over Peter with the hands on his neck.

A male voice jolted in pain.

He let go of Peter, who stumbled to the ground.

The unknown man turned around and threw the bike away from him towards her.

She felt how the chain ring tore the skin on her shinbone open.

She heard the slight rasp of her tights ripping apart.

The sharp pain and the heavy thrust got her off balance.

She screamed and flinched backwards.

His face was completely mummed in dark cloth.

He approached her, “Hey,” she gasped.

His punch hit her head, for a second she couldn't breathe.

Warm liquid seeped along her eye.

“STOP!” another loud voice cut through the night.

The noise distracted the man in front of her, Regina took the chance and kicked him into the groin.

He doubled up and with her remaining strenght she kicked and kicked him again.

This time she hit the outside of his knee.

He grunted in pain.

“I said stop!”

Suddenly she wasn't alone any more – another person appeared behind the man and pulled him away from her.

The attacker slipped out of the others grip.

Another struck hit her in the face.

Her vision was blacked.

She tasted blood in her mouth, her legs gave away...

Dazed from the blow, she sensed the fight, which was still happen in front of her.

The voice of Peter got audible.

She tried to get up, but she wasn't able to move.

Steps moved towards her, someone knelt down.

“Everything is alright,” a low male voice told her, she felt a hand on her arm.

She flinched back.

The warm fingers withdrew themselves from her skin.

“He's gone.”

She opened her eyes, her head throbbed in pain.

Before she was able to recognize the face of the man, a bright light flickered in front of her.

White dots blocked her vision, she tried to shield her face with the back of her hand.

“Is she okay?” she heard Peter yell.

“Are you okay?” the man asked calmly.

She nodded and the pain in her head, caused by this movement, brought tears to her eyes.

“Put the _fucking_ torch down, please,” she said weary.

“I guess, she's not okay,” the man answered in Peter's direction and lowered the ray of light.

“Thank you,” she blinked a few times to get rid of the glints.

“You're bleeding!” she told him.

Under his lightish eyes, in the shadows of the circles of sleep deprivation, dripped blood from a cut down on his left cheek.

“It's not so bad,” he said unagitated,

“You're bleeding, too.”

“It's not so bad,” she repeat sarcastically and suppressed the urge to touch her forehead.

A frown appeared between his arched eyebrows.

Dark-brown with streaks like shooting stars.

The color of his hair and his three-day beard.

A smile grew on his lips.

“Maybe you're okay, after all,” he chuckled.

She couldn't help but stare into his face.

_Who are you?_

Peter rushed towards them, he put his hands on his knees.

“He ran away,” he panted.

He was horrified, as he saw the blood on Regina's face.

“I'll call an ambulance!” he took out his phone.

“NO!” Regina's and the nameless man's voices echoed simultaneously in the silent night.

They looked at each other.

_Why are you so familiar?_

Peter lowered his phone.

“Peter, no. I don't want my parents to find out about this!

If you take me to the clinic, they'll know, before we even arrive there. Don't,” Regina pleaded.

Peter looked from her to the man,

“And what about you?”

“I just don't want to.”

_Why are you so cool?_

“Seriously?” Peter eyes wided.

“You owe me!” Regina said furiously.

Peter ran his hand through his short hair, “Oh God,” he closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of his face.

She was sure, he prayed for serenity, courage and wisdom, like he always did.

“You two are bleeding. Your wounds need stiches. We need help!” he whispered.

He opened his eyes, dialed a number and pressed the phone against his ear.

“Who are you calling?” Regina tried to get up, but her legs were still too weak.

Peter ignored her and walked a few steps away from them.

He talked in a hushed voice.

Regina frowned and the pain made her groan.

“Are you alright?” the man next to her asked again.

This time she shook her head.

The little movement made her as nauseous as the metallic taste in her mouth.

She swallowed hard, “What about you?”

“I feel dizzy,” was his response.

He took a tissue out of the pockets of his dark coat.

“May I?” he asked and smiled friendly at her, “Your nose is bleeding.”

Regina hadn't been aware of that. “Yes, please,” she said.

She was afraid another attempt to tilt her head would cause her to vomit.

He softly dabbed the blood off her upper lip.

She looked into his eyes.

The depths of liquid metal.

Never before she had seen a hue like this.

“Does it hurt much?”

“I tend to get nose-bleedings when I am stressed, it's normal.”

“Well,” he chuckled, “I wouldn't call this situation normal.”

Even though she was still sitting, she felt how her knees got weak by the sight of his smile on his face.

_Who of us is staring into the other's eyes?_

_Is it me? Is it him?_

She was grateful for the already red smears on her skin, so he wasn't able to detect her blushing.

She returned the smile.

He folded the paper tissue with her blood together.

“Aleksander,” he introduced himself,

“Regina,” she replied, although he should've known by now.

“and Peter owes you something?” he asked.

She couldn't help, but laugh.

“It's a long story,” she sighed, trying suppress the feeling of sickness.

Peter returned.

His hands shook.

“Okay, I have a plan,” he stammered, “The old Dr. Reimann is on his way,”

“The pediatrician?” Regina asked, but Peter continued talking.

“with Ines Kahnwald.”

Regina groaned.

“They'll take us to my office and they'll have a look at your wounds

– don't look at me like that Regina!” Peter exclaimed in frustration.

“They are trustworthy. They won't tell any one. I promise. Perhaps you're having a concussion or worse. I want experts to look at it!”

Regina said nothing.

Ines Kahnwald? _Hell yeah, she would tell Claudia_.

And Dr. Reimann was an retired colleague of her father... _Wow, Peter._

Aleksander got on his feet again.

He slightly tripped and his face flinched in pain.

One of his hands pressed into his side.

“What's wrong?” Regina breathed out.

“Nothing I –” his glance lingered on her for a moment, “I guess, my ribs are kinda bashed,” he admitted.

He extended his hand towards the other man.

“Thank you, Peter,” Aleksander said.

Peter shook it, “Excuse me, what's your name?” he asked.

“Aleksander,”

“Köhler?” Peter asked.

The man's eyebrows rose in surprise.

“How do you know?” he said. The tone of his voice suddenly turned cold.

Regina felt a shiver on her arms.

“You are one of the journalist!” Peter exclaimed cheery.

Regina's urge to roll her eyes was prevented by her headache.

He was such a _noisy little brat_ , even after an attack.

“News travel fast,” Aleksander Köhler put his fist in the pockets of his coat.

Regina had noticed the shaking of his fingers.

“Winden is a small-town, Aleksander,” she said from her place on the dusty ground.

“I see.”

A car turned in the field path and stopped in front of the group.

For the second time this night Regina was blinded by light.

The banging of doors, the sound of hurried steps.

Peter's relieved “ _Thank God_.”

“What happened?” the authoritatively voice of Dr. Reimann asked.

“Gina!” Ines immediately got on her knees in front of Regina,

“I need light!” she said loud and Aleksander handed his torch over to her.

“Follow my finger,” the elderly woman told her and put her index finger in front of Regina's eyes,

while her other hand swung the flashlight into her pupils to test for a reaction.

“A man attacked me. Regina tried to help, I think he hit her against her head, I

– everything happened so fast – he ran away, I don't know who...” Peter gasped.

Dr. Reimann put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “See if you can assist Ines,” he said and Peter nodded.

Dr. Reimann walked towards Aleksander, “Good evening, I am Dr. Reimann,” he greeted him.

“Look after her,” Aleksander said promptly and pointed into Regina's direction.

“Oh, she's already in the capable hands of Frau Kahnwald. Don't worry, please let me examine your cut.”

“He said there's something with his ribs!” Regina almost yelled to the doctor,

while Ines handed the torch over to Peter and started palpating Regina's skull.

“Ines?” Reimann asked, while he did the same to Aleksander's head, as well.

“Signs of a light concussion,” the nurse told him,

“but the wound over her eyebrow needs to get stitches.”

“The same with him, too. I need to take a closer look at his ribs.” Dr. Reimann said.

Regina heard a painful groan from Aleksander, she tried to turn her head into his direction, but Ines stopped her,

“Don't move too fast!”

“Ines?” the doctor asked again.

“Let's take them to my house, I have all the material –” Ines replied.

“I don't think this will be necessary,” Regina interrupted the talk of the medics.

“Of course, it's necessary!” Dr Reimann laughed joyless.

“If Nurse Kahnwald says it's necessary, it is,”

he took a compress out of his doctor's bag and handed it over to Aleksander to put it on his wound,

“Besides, your mother would give me hell, Regina.”

“No worries, Schatz,” Ines took her hand in hers.

Regina was reminded of how Ines had held her hand, during the first night of her nightmare check-up at the hospital.

Regina had been very afraid of being alone in the room, while her parents both outside observed her data.

Ines had read to her.

_You don't have to be afraid._

Regina nodded, “Okay,” she whispered.

Ines smiled encouraging at her.

One hour later, Regina leaned against the frame of the dining room door in Ines' little house.

She held an ice pack against her freshly stitched wound.

The cold smoothed her headache.

Peter stood next to her, “Are you okay?” she asked him.

He smiled at her and stroked over her shoulder,

“Yes. I am fine. I'll get bruises on my neck, but they'll fade. Tomorrow, I'Il go to the police. I'll report the attack. People need to be warned...”

he swallowed and she noticed the tears in his eyes.

She reached for him and they hugged each other.

“Thank you for saving me,” he said and she felt how tense he still was.

“It was him,” she looked over to Aleksander.

He sat on a chair, Dr. Reimann and Ines were about to finish the stitches on his cheek.

Peter shook his head and let go of her.

“You are brave and strong. I am sorry for not trusting you to deal with the medicine.”

“Don't let us talk about this now,” she reassured him,

“Go home and give Bernadette a kiss from me, okay,” Regina suggested and he nodded in agreement.

His head jolted into Aleksander's direction, “Are you sure you want to be alone with this stranger?”

“He's no stranger,” Regina replied in a hushed voice.

“We know nothing about him,” Peter whispered back, “He seems to be very friendly, but –”

“I am not alone with him,” Regina interrupted him, “Dr. Reimann and Ines are here with us. Don't worry.”

He hesitated, but then he nodded.

“I'll drive you,” Ines offered, as she approached them.

She turned around, “I'll be back soon,” she said and Dr. Reimann smiled at her.

Peter bid all of them good night and they left.

Regina went to the men and sat on the edge of another wooden chair at the table.

“I'd like to take a look at your ribs again,” the grey haired doctor said to Aleksander,

“I want to make sure no broken bones puncture your lungs.”

Aleksander nodded and the elderly man helped him out of his shirt.

Regina suppressed a sigh of dismay. His whole half of his torso was discoloured in dark-red and blue.

“These bruises will stay with you for a few weeks,” Reimann declared.

In an act of circumspection, Regina looked at the tabletop.

There was still dried blood under her nails.

Aleksander hissed in pain.

“Aha, good news. Everything's in working order – they are just contused. I'll bandage you. The icy compress will help with the bruises.”

Dr. Reimann looked at Regina,

“Would you mind, if she is helping me?”

Aleksander shook his head. Regina slowly got up.

Dr. Reimann put two compresses on his skin,

“Hold it in place, please,” he said to Regina.

“I am sorry,” she said to Aleksander, as she put her fingers upon the white fabric and noticed his gritted teeth.

“It's not so bad,” he exhaled, “How's your nose?” he asked.

“It's not so bad,” she repeated his words, like on the field path hours ago.

They smiled at each other.

As the bandage was done, she helped Aleksander back into his black shirt.

For a brief moment, she saw that he had a deep round-shaped mark on his back.

The tissue was very scarred.

_What kind of wound would cause a scar like that?_

“So,” Dr. Reimann sighed as he collected all the used material,

“The two of you are staying here for the rest of the night.

Every thirty minutes, we will check on your pupils – we need to make sure none of you suffers from a severe case of concussion.”

He went for the door, his hands full of waste of the stuff they used to patch them up.

“Try to relax. I'm gonna make some coffee for Ines and me. You'll get some in the morning.”

He smiled tired at them.

“Thank you, Dr. Reimann,” Regina said.

“You're welcome, Regina.” he said over the shoulder and walked out of the room.

Regina sat down next to Aleksander. For a moment none of them spoke.

The silence brought a feeling of finality.

 _What the hell?_ Regina thought.

“Do we know each other?” he asked, “I mean, have we already met?”

Regina breathed out in relief. So she wasn't the only one with a major déjà-vu-experience.

“You're familiar somehow, too. I can't explain,” she said.

They exchanged glances and laughter.

He nodded, “I feel like I heard your voice before,” he said. “It's so calm, like the whispers of air through leaves...”

She looked into his eyes.

_Is he flirting with me?_

_Is he the one suffering from a severe concussion?_

Regina raised her eyebrows, her eyes never leaving his,

“You should write that down. Sounds like Shakespeare, to me,” she said.

His face turned crimson,

“I'm sorry,” he apologized quickly, “It's just –” he stuttered,

“I – I don't know, why I said that – I mean it's true, but – God. Why am I being so bold?”

he got up and moved away from her.

“Wait,” Regina said, “It was me who started starring at you. No need to apologize,”

she took all her courage, “You have beautiful eyes!” she told him genuinely.

_Am I flirting with him?_

_Am I the one with the severe case of head injury?_

He laughed, “Thanks a lot,” he put a hand behind his neck.

The colour on his cheeks faded slowly.

“Can I ask you a question?” he said.

Regina nodded.

“How does it come that everybody knows you here?”

Grateful for the change of topic, Regina ran off at the mouth,

“First of all, this town is creepily tiny when it comes to family relations and friendships!

Well, the thruth is, I used to spent a lot of time in the company of Dr. Reimann and Nurse Ines, when I was younger.

I had trouble sleeping. I was a patient at the local sleep clinic.”

Aleksander's facial expression became a mix of surprise and sympathy.

“I know, how horrible this is,” he told her and leaned against the table.

“You do?” Regina asked.

“Yes, I suffer from insomnia, that's why I was on the streets tonight. I go for walks in –” he interrupted himself.

“I go for walks, when I can't find sleep,” he continued.

The switch of tone in his voice reminded her of her own ways to avoid talking about her sleepwalking problem,

so she didn't pressured him into telling more.

“It's nice to know I am not alone,” she said instead.

He nodded and returned her kind smile.

“I wonder what happened? Who attacked Peter and why?” she posed the question.

“Why were you two on the field path at hour?” Aleksander asked her.

“My house is on the edge of the woods. I was on my way home,”

she got up and took the flyer from Ines table and handed it over to him.

“I hosted my first exhibition this evening.”

“You're an artist?” he read the key note.

“No, it's my gallery,” she explained, “I organise exhibitions with artists from the area.”

“Tiedemann?” he read the name of her gallery out loud.

“Yes,” she flashed her teeth proudly at him.

“Peter and I... we argued...” she sighed, she felt guilty.

Was it her fault, that the attacker found Peter?

Normally he wouldn't have stand there alone on the path.

She leaned against the table next to him.

“He isn't your boyfriend, isn't he?” Aleksander asked incidentally and turned the Flyer to see if there was text on the other side.

“God, no,” she laughed, “I am his aunt.”

“Excuse me?” he looked at her in confusion.

“It's a small-town – no for real, my father was married to Peter's grandmother. It's a little complicated. I'll tell you, when the headache fades, I promise.”

He nodded, a smirk on his lips, “Thank you. I would love to hear that story.”

“Still, I don't get what happened,” she crossed her arms.

“Me neither. I walked along the streets because I couldn't sleep. Before we – Clausen and I –”

“Who?” she interrupted him.

“The other journalist. My...” he hesitated for a moment, “brother. Clausen is not his real name, he only calls himself that.”

“Aha,” she replied vaguely.

“Anyway, before we came to Winden –” again he stopped himself from talking, he seemed to weight his words,

“Somehow Winden doesn't allow me to rest. Perhaps I work too much. I don't know –”

their glances met and he lost himself into her eyes again.

“I'm sorry for rambling, normally I wouldn't...” he blushed and put his head in his hands.

“It's okay,” Regina touched his shoulder with her hand, but withdrew her fingers as soon as he moved.

“I walk this path to the woods for days now,” he continued “It was so dark. And suddenly I hear your voice. I realised there was a fight going on.”

“I am grateful you were there” Regina's under lip started to quiver, she bit on it to stop it.

“I don't know what could've happened, if it wasn't for you. The man was so aggressive...” her voice failed her.

For the first time this night a fright rushed through her body in a stunning way.

Just in this minute, the last remains of adrenaline had left her veins.

The retrospect of the events overwhelmed her with fear.

She pushed herself away from the table.

_Why we? Who attacked us?_

What was this all about?

Peter?

Nobody in town held a grudge against the humane, bible-quoting, always kindly and always friendly psychologist.

Nobody – except for _herself_.

She felt awful.

On her forehead throbbed the wound, tears flooded her eyes.

Her chest tightened up, she gasped for air.

Aleksander noticed her struggle.

“Regina,” he reached for her hand and took it in his, “Try to sit down,” he gently guided her back to her chair.

“Breathe with me,” he said, his voice low and calmingly.

He sat next to her. It took a while, until she hit the steady rhythm again.

She couldn't say anything, she gripped on his wrist.

“In and out, you're doing good,” he took her other hand and squeezed them.

“You are here,” he said, still calm and attentive.

She felt his warm fingers intertwined with her cold ones.

“Take your time.”

Patiently he encouraged her to breathe along with him further.

“You're save here,” he said, looking into her eyes.

She nodded.

She felt how her nerves were soothed by his words.

“ _Tiedemann_ is a beautiful name,” he said with a gently smile and she nodded.

“To own a gallery is very impressive,” he continued to distract her thoughts.

The corners of her mouth twitched a little.

“You're doing good,” he repeated and she unloosened her tight grip on his hands.

She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, along the relaxation, a wave of exhaustion over came her.

“I think,” her dry throat croaked, “I am better now,” she opened her eyes again.

He smiled at her.

“Everything is okay,” he told her and gently let go of her fingers.

She stroked back her curls and ran her hands over her scalp.

“I am sorry,” she said quietly.

A blush crept along her neck.

“You don't have to,” he said seriously.

“This was a normal reaction to what happened to you tonight. Don't apologize for your feelings.”

She looked at him, she couldn't find words to describe how she felt not being judged.

_He gets me._

“You defended yourself; you are here; you are okay,” he told her.

She breathed out in relief.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Everything will be okay,” Aleksander said.

“Perhaps you should go to bed, Regina.”

She shook her head.

“No, it's fine. I would like to stay awake rather than being woken up every half hour,” she replied.

He nodded understandingly.

“Besides, I wouldn't waste a good, solid opportunity to talk to a kindred spirit.”

He beamed at her words.

“I like the way your mind works,” he said.

She was glad, she sat in a chair, because her knees felt very weakly again.

> _Ooh, a storm is threatening_
> 
> _My very life today_
> 
> _If I don't get some shelter_
> 
> _Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away_
> 
> – Rolling Stones, _Gimme Shelter_

* * *

Peter opens the door of his flat.

Bernadette rushed towards him.

She sees the exhausted look on his face.

She puts her hand on her mouth as she realises he has bruises around his neck.

She wraps her arms around him.

In the Wöller house, Hannah carries a sleeping Jonas and lays him back into his baby crib.

She gently caress his cheeks and glances nervously at the clock on the wall. She's waiting.

Aleksander's _brother_ , who wants to be called Clausen, breaks into Aleksander's hotel room.

He's convinced, that Aleksander must have fled. He frantically searches through his cupboard.

He swears and throws Aleksander's belongings on the ground in frustration.

An unknown figure sits in a darken room.

He clicks with a cigarette lighter.

The bickering flame illuminates a folder, which lays on a desk in front of him.

It's a surgery report and next to it a picture of the face of Bernd Doppler.

The sun rises over Winden.

Regina and Aleksander sit on Ines' terrace.

They drink coffee out of steaming cups.

Aleksander notices how Regina shivers, because of the chill of the early morning.

He places his cup on the table in front of him and takes off his scarf.

He gently wraps it around her neck.

She smiles gratefully at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ines & Dr. Reimann - I ship them lol. 
> 
> All I know about medicine, I have seen on grey's anatomy. So I am sorry for all those weird fail descriptions on how to take care of wounds & bruised ribs :)
> 
> It's been 20 days since I last updated. Thank you for patiently waiting (and for all your encouraging comments & kudos) & thank you for reading this over 20 pages document.  
> Remember last time, when I said I never wrote anything this long, well turns out there's always a higher number :)
> 
> to peaches_n_roses, you know the drill <3  
> thank uuu, this chapter is written for & because of you :)
> 
> if you have the time, please let me know what you think, I would love to read your thoughts <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning: some descriptions of the process of removing stitches.  
> I could've call this chapter „Don't try this at home!“ lol. 
> 
> Have a good time reading <3

> _Bright lies shine on_
> 
> _Illusions past ages ago_
> 
> _From a distance_
> 
> _See my self existing_
> 
> – Giant Rooks, _Bright Lies_

* * *

“Ines' work is impressive,” Bernd told his daughter, who lied on the couch in one of the many Doppler's mansions living rooms.

With a pair of delicate scissors, he cut through the remaining sutures above her eyebrow.

“You won't even get a scar!” he said, while he bowed over Regina's head and put the tool aside.

“You still look bruised and battered, Gina-deer,” Claudia remarked.

She stood next to her husband's wheelchair and held a silvery tray on which he put the gooey pieces of Regina's stitches with a pincette.

“Mama, I am alright,” Regina rolled her eyes.

Her father tugged at another suture and she flinched.

“Keep still, Schatz,” her father said reassuring, “Be brave. It's almost over.”

Claudia sighed.

“Really, I haven't slept this good in ages!” Regina assured.

“What do you mean?” Claudia leaned forward to face her daughter,

“Of course you sleep good, you take your medicine!”

“Claudia, love – you're blocking the light,” Bernd tried to push her away with his arm, she stepped aside.

Regina didn't answer.

She closed her eyes.

Damn it.

She had almost revealed her secret.

It was the truth. Since the night of the attack, she had a quiet sleep. _Paradoxal_.

There were no nightmares, too. She didn't sleepwalked any longer.

She just dreamt. About him.

Was it all _only_ because of _him_?

The memories of the dream, she had dreamt the night before, flooded through her mind.

The corners of her mouth tugged upwards.

“It's been three days – are you making fun of me? I am worried, Regina!” Claudia exclaimed.

Peter had reported the attack to the local police and Regina had told her parents about it.

As expected both of them were horrified.

Her mother was very furious about the fact, that Regina had insisted on not going to the hospital.

But as soon as Peter told her about Dr. Reimann and Ines Kahnwald she was a little mollified.

The elderly Dopplers thought very highly about their two retired colleagues.

_Three days..._

“Since _when_ do Ines and Dr. Reimann have something going on with another?”

Regina asked in an attempt to take the conversation as far away as possible from her medication.

“Oh for ages!” her mother replied, “Don't change the topic!”

“Would you kindly stop pressuring our daughter?”

Bernd said and tried to unravel a knot without tearing the freshly healed wound apart again,

“I can't concentrate with the two of you being catty with another!”

“Ach Bernd,” Claudia rolled her eyes at him, the same way her daughter did minutes ago,

“Don't act as if you would perform an OH SO critical surgery – even Regina is able to remove stitches!”

“ _Even Regina_?” Regina mimicked her mother's voice.

“Stop being mean, Claudia,” Bernd told her in a sternly tone, but he couldn't help but grin.

“I knew you would align yourself with her!” Claudia tightened her grip around the handles of the tray.

“I am able to defend myself!” Regina responded cheeky.

“And look how _well_ that panned out!” Claudia gestured to Regina's wound.

“Mama!” Regina was about to sit up, but her father pushed her shoulders down.

“Be quiet, both of you!” he said loud, “I almost poked your eye out, Regina!”

Regina puffed and Claudia clucked her tongue, but they both kept their mouth's shut for a while.

Bernd removed the last suture,

“I am done,” he said and stript off the pair of gloves from his hands,

“Thank you, Papa,” Regina smiled at him.

“No problem, daughter,” he turned away from her,

“So now go on, keep getting in each other's hair again!”

he dragged the tray out of his wife's hands, put it into his lap and wheeled out of the room.

Mother and daughter sighed simultaneously.

They smiled at each other.

Claudia sat down next to her.

She took a fresh paper-tissue and gently dabbed the remaining tincture of iodine from Regina's face.

“Have you heard from the journalist?” she asked friendly.

“Aleksander?” Regina replied.

It was obvious Claudia was talking about him, but she really liked to say his name.

Her tongue always warmly embraced the familiar sound of the combination of letters

– _K_ except for a _X_.

She couldn't hardly believe her own emotions.

The moment she had walked into her home, there had been another rush of fear.

She had locked the door behind her and had closed all the curtains.

Could she really risk another night sleepwalking alone, knowingly unconscious, into the woods on her own?

She never had thought about all the dark things, that might could hide in the debts of the trees...

In this night – after Ines' pill-observation-visit and final-concussion-check-up – Regina went upstairs to sleep _in_ her bed, instead _on_ her couch.

For the first time in weeks, she closed the door at the top of the stairs and turned the key.

If she sleepwalked tonight, then head-first against this door.

_Not a step further_ , she told herself.

And then she had slept, calm and without any excessively motion.

In place of her nightmares, she had _dreamt_... dreamt about him.

_Aleksander_.

Could it be?

Was he a kind of knight, to save her from all the distress?

_Ugh, I am definitely not becoming his damsel_ , she thought,

_my life ain't a fairytale, but maybe we are the dream-part in each other's nightmares._

She rolled her eyes at her own thoughts.

_Regina_ , she reminded herself, _I am not romantic, don't be too dramatic._

Then he had called her in the afternoon.

“How are you feeling?” he had asked, in a tone as if they would knew each other for years, instead of barely 24 hours.

“Uneasy,” she replied, while she had grinned.

“Yes,” he said, “Likewise.”

“I bet it's Ines' coffee, never drank such a strong brewed one before,” Regina remarked and she heard how he chuckled at her words.

“I know a place, where the coffee is less dark,”

she added with her fingers crossed and her eyes shut tight – _please go for it!_ she pleaded in her thoughts.

“I would love to go there,” he said.

_Yes!_ she jumped up with joy.

“It's odd, you know,” Claudia crossed her legs,

“For two journalists, who claim to visit this town only for the purpose of a reportage on the sleep-laboratory,

they have done very less effort to contact us...” she thoughtful looked into the distance.

“We haven't talked about his work during that night,” Regina shrugged her shoulders.

“I guess, he also isn't even aware, that I am your daughter,” she noticed after a moment.

“Why?” Claudia shoot her an interested glance.

“I haven't told him my last name,” she answered her mother.

“You are such a peculiarly being, Schatz,” Claudia burst out laughing,

“You and the man, survive an attack, spent a whole night together and didn't even felt the need to exchange _real_ names?”

A few hours later they drove over to the little apartment in which Jana still lived.

Today was moving day.

Regina noticed Peter's paleness. He wore a turtleneck.

The moment the two women got out of the car, he and his mother Ulla carried two moving boxes into the trunk of Helge's car.

They exchanged _hello_ 's and Peter's smile didn't even reached his eyes.

Claudia moved forward and nonchalant pulled down the fabric from his neck.

“Let me take a look!”

The bluish bruises stood out very noticeable against the pallid skin.

“Stop it,” Peter said upset, in a not very Peter-like tone and pushed her hand away.

“I just wanted to check,” Claudia held up her hands apologetic.

Peter shook his head, “I am fine,” he answer brusquely.

He turned around and went back into the building.

Regina immediately knew, that something was definitely not okay with him.

His assurance had sounded like her own attempts to let anybody think that she was _fine_.

Now it was him, who lied to Claudia's face.

Claudia and Ulla exchanged glances. Peter's mother looked worried.

“He's still suffering,” Ulla helplessly tried to explain.

“Who can blame him? Being attacked in the middle of the night...”

Claudia's pityingly and painfully glimpse, was almost unbearable.

Regina reached for her hand and her mother hold onto it for dear life.

Ulla's under lip began to quiver.

“How are you, Sweetie?” the smile she tried to give Regina failed miserably.

“Papa removed my stitches this morning,” Regina replied.

“That's good,” Ulla nodded.

Regina put her other hand on Ulla's arm.

“Everything will be okay,” she said in an attempt to comfort the wife of her elderly brother.

Ulla looked thankfully at her and stroked over her cheek, “You're right,” she composed herself.

“Alright, it's not much.” she gestured towards the cartons. “I think we will make it all in on go.”

Jana stood in the tiny kitchen and looked out of the window.

Apparently she seemed to observe something. Her sight was fixed on the horizon.

Regina wasn't sure, if she should disturb the woman, but Jana had noticed her right from the start.

“Over there,” she pointed her finger at the sky.

Regina went over next to her, “What do you see?”

“I sense a storm, darling,” Jana looked into Regina's face,

“But that's not what you meant, _hm_?”

Regina wasn't sure, so she asked, “What for a kind of storm?“”

“There is one eye in the middle.”

“An eye?”

Jana shook her head, “ _One_ eye,” she repeated certainly.

_What's the difference?_ Regina thought.

“And you _see_ it?”

“The eye and the storm,” Jana moved towards Regina, her face suddenly turned tense,

“They look at me and I look at them – I can't get through it, I just can't,”

Jana's fingers started fidgeting.

Her white strand of hair fell into her eyes.

Regina reached out and put it behind her ear.

“You don't have to be afraid,” she tried to calm the elderly woman down.

Jana's glance found hers.

They stared at each other.

Regina put both of her hands over Jana's uneasily ones.

The situation was a little bit out of her dept.

“What is his eye color?” Jana asked.

“Excuse me?”

“Your man on the run,”

“Who?”

She already knew the answer, but she wanted Jana to reply.

“Aleksander, _your_ man on the run,” Jana repeated but with emphasis on the second word.

Regina felt goosebumps on her skin.

_My man on the run?_

“You know him?”

“Was there ever a person who knew _Aleksander_?”

_What kind of conversation is this?_

Regina was about to pull her hands away from Jana's.

Helge's words came to her mind:

_I don't think, she says those things to annoy or mock you – at some point it will make sense..._

Regina took a deep breath,  “Tick Tack,” she said out loud.

Jana raised her eyebrows, “Exactly,” she replied approvingly.

“His eyes look like liquid metal, melted, somehow in motion, grey but almost like water,” she couldn't help but blush.

A bright smile spread over Jana's worried expression and left her eyes cloudless and shiny,

“I knew you would fall for _those_ eyes.”

Regina returned the smile, although she wasn't sure, if it was a good thing Jana described.

“I am not falling for anything,” she stated.

Jana laughed, “You do. You do.”

She turned around and busied her hands with packing a bunch of items into another moving box.

Regina was about to take an already filled one out of the room, but she stopped mid-stride.

“Jana?”

The woman raised her head.

“The eye of the storm,” Regina swallowed.

_This is insane._

She was afraid, but she needed to know,

“Is it Aleksander's eye?”

Jana shook her head, “It's not his.”

A rush of relief flooded her veins, her heart beat calmed.

She didn't knew why, but at least she felt good about _this_ answer.

Jana opened her mouth, but at this moment Claudia pushed herself past her daughter and interrupted them with a question.

Regina slept till noon on the following day.

She was snuggled into her pillows and in her dream she followed Aleksander through the streets of Winden.

She laughed and a moment later, they both lied on the leaf-strewn forest soil.

He said something she couldn't understand.

She turned to face him and looked into his eyes.

Over his shoulder she recognized the entrance of the cave.

She flinched, but Aleksander's hand reached out for her and touched her face.

_Do you see them too?_ she wanted to ask, but the sound of the chirping birds surrounding them was too loud for her to understand her own words.

It was the continual ringing of her phone which ripped her out of her dream.

Barely awake, she searched for it.

_Oh god_ , she jumped out of her bed.

_Aleksander Köhler._

She took a deep breath and stroked her hair out of her face.

“Hey,” she greeted him.

_I just had a dream about you! s_ he wanted to tell him, but she shook her head against her own foolishness. 

_How to scare off a guy in less than a week – a guide by Regina Doppler._

“I was just thinking about you,” his low voice said.

She let herself fall onto her bed.

_This couldn't be true._

“Did I wake you?” he asked.

She laughed, “No, no – I've been up for... hours,” she pulled her blanket over her shivering legs.

“That's good, wouldn't want to disturb your dreams,” she heard how he smiled.

“I know, we'll see us today, but –”

“Oh, this is so kind of you!” she almost cooed.

The conversation with her mother came up to her mind.

“Actually there's something, I wanted to tell you,” Regina said.

“It was nice, to have somebody only being interested in me. Not for my father, his clinic or Mama's school.”

There was silence.

“What do you mean?” Aleksander asked.

“Oh, you are _certainly_ not from here,” she laughed, “My father owns the local sleep laboratory.”

“You are Bernd Doppler's daughter?” he asked.

And Regina wasn't sure why he suddenly sounded so toneless.

“Yes. Surprise! So thank you for that,” she said.

On the other line, Aleksander had become pale.

A _surprise_ indeed.

After they said their goodbye's, his finger hoovered above the red icon.

He didn't wanted to be the one to end the call.

She seemed to had the same thought, he heard her giggle.

“I'm hanging up now, Aleksander,” her melodic voices told him out of the speaker and with this their call ended.

The job offer.

Their task was to find something _against_ the Dopplers. Something to destroy them. Something that was able to make them lose everything.

He felt how his heart sunk.

Mere minutes ago it had beaten fast and joyful at the sound of her voice.

She already meant so much to him.

Could he allow himself to change his priorities because of her?

_Do I actually have a date with the Doppler's daughter?_

Of course she told the truth, why should she lie about her name? 

_Yeah, why should someone lie about their identity, ALEKSANDER?_

He walked back into the rented office.

“The Doppler's daughter is called Regina?” he asked out loud,

as he strode into the room to one of the desks and looked through the several folders on it.

There was the mention of a child but was it really HER?

“How dumb can you get?” the cold voice of Clausen made itself noticeable.

The other man walked over to the blackboard and ripped a piece of paper from it.

He took it and slapped the photography against Aleksander's chest, “She looks like her mother!”

The resemblance between Claudia and Regina was striking – why hadn't he noticed?

Regina's soft curls weren't ginger, they were more auburn, a darker shade of red...

Winden had left him sleepless for so many nights in a row, he hadn't been able to actually focus on the faces and features of their observation objects.

Since he had met Regina, he could finally find sleep at night, but during the day he dreamt with open eyes about her.

Never before, he had worked _this_ less.

And he didn't even knew her for a whole week, it's been actually only a few days...

“Tell me, are you loosing your eyesight?” Clausen's eyes became wide, he moved closer to Aleksander,

“Are you trying to sabotage this?” he gestured around, “If you tell her about –”

“Nothing of it is related to Regina!” Aleksander raised his voice over Clausen's.

“You wish!” he yelled, “If she becomes suspicious –”

“Her name is _Doppler,_ ” Aleksander's fascinated whisper interrupted Clausen.

Regina _Tiedemann_ , Regina _Doppler_.

“Half of the town is called _Doppler_ these days!” Clausen became frayed.

“Years and years of you not showing interest in anyone – the first woman, you ever lay eyes on, has to be from this cursed town!”

Aleksander shrugged his shoulders and went over to pin the photo of Regina's mother next to the one of her father.

Clausen rambled on, “You instantly fall for her and _of course_ it's the daughter of the people we investigating against!”

Aleksander wanted to ask where he got all his information from, but in the end it didn't mattered to him.

So he decided to ignore his rage, something he was well trained in.

Also he didn't wanted to argue about what he said.

Clausen's whole statement was true.

Katharina opened the door of the Wöller house.

“Warrior Queen!” she greeted Regina, “You've got your stitches removed!”

She nodded, “I won't even get a scar,” she fake pouted.

Bernadette sat on the couch and cradled Jonas in her arms.

Regina smiled at her and the woman returned the gesture.

Like the day before, Regina noticed that a smile didn't reached the eyes.

Regina went over to her and got down on her knees to greet the Baby,

“Hello little boy,” she whispered and caressed his tiny cheek with her finger.

The Baby moved at her touch, but slept further.

“He's so peaceful,” Regina sighed and marveled at the small features of his face.

“Only when the three of you are visiting,” Hannah entered the room, drying her wet hair with a towel,

“Last night he screamed for hours, it was so hard to calm him down,”

she hung up the damp cloth on the laundry rag and sat down next to Bernadette, who handed Jonas over to her.

Regina made herself comfortable on the ground, she looked at Bernadette's face.

She had dark circles under her eyes, she was pale. Regina touched her knee.

“Sunshine, is everything okay?”

Bernadette shook her head, “I'm fine. It's Peter.”

Regina swallowed.

“What's wrong with him,” Katharina asked, she sat down on the carpet next to Regina.

“Since the attack he has changed beyond recognition,”

Regina tightened her hold on Bernadette's knee.

“I can't help him – he's –” she tilted her head back and tried to blink away her tears.

“God,” she angrily wiped at her eyes.

Regina got up to sat next to her.

“It's okay, cry it out,” she gently took Bernadette's hand away from her face.

The woman bid her red under-lip,

“He can't sleep. He's always awake. He's terrified. Why? Why was he attacked? And who did this him?” she sobbed.

Hannah adjusted Jonas on her arm and reached over to rub her shaking shoulders.

Katharina moved closer.

Regina felt awfully cold.

She wasn't sure what to say.

The feeling of guilt put its weight on her chest.

_It's my fault_ , she thought.

_If it wasn't for me, this wouldn't have happened._

Katharina caught her glance.

Of course, she knew what Regina was thinking.

Her best friend shook her head subtly.

_Don't you dare, none of this is your fault,_ Katharina's eyes seemed to say.

Regina nooded and Katharina's lips moved into a faint, but grimly smile.

“Thanks,” Bernadette tried to suppress the shiver in her voice, “I'm okay. I'm okay, now.”

She fanned air with her hand into her face, “Does anyone has good news or something funny to tell?”

Regina wished for the skill of comforting people. Like Aleksander...

Hannah and Katharina both shrugged their shoulders.

Regina was still lost in her thoughts.

Katharina kicked her feet against her leg to get her attention, “What about this journalist?”

“Oh, we –” Regina felt how her face turned crimson, she looked around and met with the expecting looks of her friends,

“I guess, we... have sort of a _date_ tonight?” she said vaguely and raised her hands in a gesture of uncertainty.

“Is this a question or do you know it?” Hannah asked.

“I don't think, you should met with him,” Katharina crossed her arms.

“Oh no, why?” Bernadette asked, “He's handsome!”

“He's shady, that's what he is!”

“Kathi,” Regina put her hand against her forehead and flinched as her fingers touched the remains of her wound.

“Nope, naive Doppler girl! Have you googled him?” Katharina asked fiery.

“Why should I do this?” Regina rolled her eyes.

Katharina groaned, “Why should I do this? Are you serious?”

She let herself fall backwards on the ground, “It's a rule! Regina meets a new guy, Regina needs to google! To make sure, it's not another trash dude –”

“As if everybody has a homepage where –”

“Since I already knew you wouldn't take this seriously – I did _your_ job and,”

Katharina got up, “There is nothing.”

“That's good!” Regina replied.

“NO, THIS IS THE WORST CASE!”

“Katharina, calm down – Jonas is asleep!” Hannah hissed.

“I am sorry,” Katharina put her hand over her mouth.

She looked directly at Regina, “It's like this _Aleksander Köhler_ doesn't even exist,” she whispered,

“Which is very shady for a so-called journalist.”

Regina kept quiet.

She didn't even had thought for a moment, that she should do some research on Aleksander.

They had talked for hours about – yes, about what actually?

She didn't knew anything and he didn't knew anything, about her either.

Their conversations had spun a web into the night, as they sat close next to each other, like the strangers they were.

The living room in twilit light, their flow of words weren't even troubled by their checkups every half an hour.

She had felt alive and awake, fixated on the metallic circles around his pupils, she didn't even needed the caffeine from the coffee Ines handed over to them.

The swirling clouds of their breaths in the cold air of the early morning.

The range of colors painted by the sunrise on the sky.

The way their coffees went from black to light brown – creating temporary pieces of art in Ines' transparent cups.

The feeling of the heavy wool, he gently wrapped around her shoulders.

It was the closeness of their bodies, his fingers smoothing above the fabric, which made her heat-up, not the warmth of the scarf.

The moment her head stopped hurting and she was able to laugh without pain about nearly every thought he shared out loud –

“There's something off about him, I tell you!” Katharina's voice soaked through Regina's memories of the night four days ago.

“Perhaps I'm gonna prick his tyres? Just prophylactically?”

“He has no car,” Regina said absent-minded.

“Don't you dare!” Bernadette exclaimed.

Hannah sighed and got up to carry Jonas out of the range of the loud voices.

“There's something fishy about him,” Katharina glared.

“You are fishy,” Bernadette snorted, “I have a feeling!” she further exclaimed, “They are meant to be!”

Katharina darted an angry look at her,

“Remember the last time you had” she air-quoted, “ _A feeling?_ Leave the prophecies to Jana.”

Bernadette waved the accusation off casually, “Who was more hurt when the trash dude ghosted her? You or Regina?”

This time Katharina glared at Regina,

“She actually didn't care at all! But the asshole had to learn his lesson!

You ghost Katharina Albers' best friend, you end up with a burning bike! It's as simple as that!”

“Ladies, I am right here, you know?” Regina laughed.

Aleksander arrived on schedule at her doorstep.

The first thing she noticed, the deep depths of sleep-deprivation were now only a faint feature on his handsome face.

Was he finding rest during the night like her, these days?

The second thing she saw immediately,

“You haven't got your stitches removed, yet!” she exclaimed cheerfully.

His fingers touched the wound on his cheek, “There was no time,” he explained.

“I can remove them,” she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

“I mean, only if you want me to,” she added and helped him out of his coat.

He hesitated, “Ähm, sure, why not,” he said.

“Cool!” Regina smiled bright.

She went for the bathroom and collected everything she needed.

For a second she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Her skin seemed to glow in excitement.

She took a tie and put her hair up into a ponytail.

For a second she was tempted to try the _tight bun_ , Jana had talked about, but no –

surely her hair wouldn't stay in a hairstyle like that for long, without _cement_ , _concrete_ or any other kind of fixation. 

She carried the items onto the table next to the couch.

Aleksander stood in the living room and appeared to be a little bit lost.

“It's a beautiful house,” he said.

She smiled, “Thank you!”

“I am ready,” Regina said and pointed at the couch.

He went over to her and lied down.

She got on her knees and bowed over his head, but she realised she couldn't see probably.

“I am blocking the light – do you mind if...” she felt how she blushed.

_Get yourself together_ , she thought.

He looked at her and understood.

“Yeah,” he nodded and set upright again.

She sat on the spot where his head had rested seconds ago and he carefully put his head into her lap.

_Concentrate!_ reminded herself. _You know how to do this._

They didn't spoke as she gently tapped the wound with iodine.

She waited for a moment and then she took the scissor in her hand.

“Why can you do this?” he asked.

“My father showed me,” she replied.

“One does not notice at all, that you're the daughter of two physicians,” he chuckled.

“Actually my mother never practiced medicine. She has degrees in science. Papa is the medicine one,” with a pincette, she tugged at the remains of the sutures.

“So, you are the daughter of Dr. Doppler?”

She nodded, “I don't wanted to tell you when we met,

because you are here for the reportage and I just wanted to get to know you, without the information out there,”

she explained apologetic.

“I can assure you, this is not an interview,” he smiled up at her.

“Is it a date?” Regina asked and bit on the inside of her cheek.

“Honestly, I would love to call THIS HERE,” Aleksander pointed at the tissue with the remains of his stitches, “A date”

They both laughed.

“Why is your gallery called _Tiedemann?_ ”

“My grandparents Doris and Egon – the parents of my mother – their name was Tiedemann.

I wanted to pay tribute to their heritage. They were my only grandparents and I was very loved when I grew up.

When I needed a name, I just knew it had to be theirs.”

“That's a very beautiful story,” he squeezed her knee.

“You thought my last name was _Tiedemann_?”

“Yes,” he replied, “ _Regina_ _Tiedemann_ sounded familiar to me.”

“Like my voice?”

“Like your voice.”

  
They were silent for a while. Regina finished her work and put her tools aside.

She removed the iodine from his cheek and got rid of her gloves.

The warm weight of his head in her lap.

Regina started to traced the fine lines on his forehead with her fingers.

She was sure her heartbeat was audible.

A strand of hair detached itself from her braid and fell into his face.

Aleksander raised his hand and gently tugged it behind her ear.

His fingers lingered there for a moment.

They lost themselves into the others eyes.

A knock on the door interrupted them. _Damn it._

Regina hadn't noticed how fast time had passed.

The room around them was already in dusky light of the outsides nightfall.

Aleksander looked up at her, “Are you expecting someone?”

Regina bit on her lip, she nodded.

He got up. Regina mentally cursed.

“It's Ines,” Regina admitted, “She makes sure I –” she struggled with words.

Aleksander smiled understandingly at her and reached out his hand, she took it and he pulled her up,

“It's alright,” he said reassuring, “I'll leave over your terrace.”

She breathed out in relief and smiled gratefully at him.

“Thank you,” he gestured to the healed wound on his face.

Then he moved closer and gently kissed her on the cheek.

Both of them blushed at the same time.

They grinned at each other.

He squeezed her hand, before he let go of it and went for the glass door.

“Call me,” he said and waved goodbye.

“I will,” she replied.

She couldn't stop herself from giggling.

“Hello Ines,” she greeted the other woman moments later, still smiling widely.

“Oh, are we in a good mood today?” Ines noted.

The two women sat down at the table and took some time to talk about Jana and her move to Ulla and Helge.

“I think this was the right decision,” Ines said, while she took out Regina's orange pill bottle.

“Yes, she seemed okay with it.” Regina filled a glass with water and carried it over to Ines.

Ines nodded, “It's not that she isn't able to live on her own any longer,

but she do needs some people to be there for her, if she needs anything.”

Ines put the medicine in Regina's extended hand.

Regina took the pill.

Ines passed her the glass.

Regina took a sip.

Ines looked at her.

“Open your mouth, Regina.”

Ines warm voice suddenly turned icy.

Regina tried to put on a brave face, she opened her lips.

“Lift up your tongue.”

Regina looked at the woman in front of her.

Ines hold her breath.

She lifted her tongue and Ines saw the pill.

Ines grabbed the glass and threw it against one of the wooden walls.

Regina flinched at the breaking noice. The pieces shattered on the ground next to her.

“It's been dawning on me for quite some time, that you're not taking your medication,”

Ines exhaled the words, she crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair.

“How?” Regina asked quietly.

“I've been a nurse for so many years – I detect it, when patients lie to me.”

“Patients?” Regina felt how her anger won over her fright.

“Yes,” Ines nodded, “You are a patient. Do you want to be certified as insane or worse?

You are self-sabotaging. We trust you – why are you doing this?” her voice got louder and higher with each question.

Regina took the pill out of her mouth and held it between her fingers in front of Ines' face.

“Do you know what this tiny thing does to my brain? It prevents me from dreaming. Have you ever not dreamt?”

She threw the pill away from her, “Do you know the feeling, when you just feel nothing? Nothing is processed in my brain.”

Ines tried to interrupt her, but Regina spoke further,

“I want to see Aleksander, I want to dream about him! I sleep good!”

She got up from her chair and started walking up and down.

“At first, I sleepwalked, yes – but I always took care of myself.

Since I met Aleksander the sleepwalking stopped. Can you imagine? After all these years of the clinic and the tests and –” her voice shook.

She tried to blink away the tears, which formed in her eyes.

“All the time, it was him missing from my life. I can't explain, but now everything seems to be alright, somehow.

I feel so much better, I feel so much more myself.”

Ines listened to Regina's declaration.

_When the time comes, you'll have to take care of her._

_She needs someone she can rely on._

_No matter what, you need to trust Regina._

Was this the moment Jana had prepared her friend for?

_There's a storm coming._

Ines put her hands over her eyes,

“Regina, from today on, I will come over every evening and,”

she raised her head and held up her fingers, she drew quotations marks into the air,

“make sure you take the pills, so we can make sure, that Claudia won't find out about it.”

“I am sorry, Ines,” Regina pressed her fingers against her quivering lips.

“I am so sorry for all of this mess.”

“There's no use crying over spilled–” Ines interrupted herself and looked down at the pieces of shattered glass,

“pills and water, Gina,” she smiled.

Regina closed her eyes, which were already filled to the brim with tears.

The relief and the guilt were overwhelming.

“I lied to you,” Regina sobbed.

Ines got up and moved towards her.

She took the daughter of her best friend into her arms.

To her Regina always would be the little girl with the red bouncy curls,

looking so much like Claudia when she was a child – of course, she would help her.

Even if it meant, that she would need to lie to her best friend.

_What Claudia's eye does not see, Claudia's heart does not grieve over._

She tighten the embrace and stroked over Regina's hair.

_So,_ Ines thought, _our Regina is about to fall for the sleep-deprived journalist._

_Aleksander Köhler,_ _who has the scar of a gun wound on the skin of his back..._

> _So, what is the sinister secret?_
> 
> _The lie he will tell you is true?_
> 
> _It's that each man you meet_
> 
> _on the street_
> 
> _isn't one man but two!_
> 
> – Frank Wildhorn, _Facade (Jekyll & Hyde)_

* * *

The full moon shines into Regina's bedroom, she won't find sleep tonight.

She gets up and unlocks the door at the top of the stairs.

She feels the familiar urge to go into the woods.

Fully awake she walks through the trees.

On a forest glade, she and Aleksander meet.

“I am awake,” she whispers, “this is not a nightmare nor a dream.”

Ines drives over to Jana's new home.

Jana stands in the door way and is already waiting for her best friend.

Ines tells her something. Jana's eyes light up and she hugs Ines tight.

Over Jana's shoulder Ines looks very worried.

Jana says, “The eye of the storm is near.”

Ines doesn't understand, but tonight she doesn't care.

She doesn't want to know any _more_ secrets...

“I went into these woods for the past weeks, every night,”

Aleksander tells Regina, as they walk side by side through the trees.

“But I haven't figured out why, yet.”

Regina moves closer to him and links her arm with his,

“There's something I need to tell you,” she says.

Aleksander replies, “I have a secret and I want to share it with you.”

The unknown figure stands in front of the _Tiedemann_ gallery and observes the dark building.

With the lighter, the person lights up a cigarette...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> never ever remove your stitches on your own.  
> as always, I love to read your thoughts, share your emotions in the comments with me!
> 
> kudos to my dear peaches_n_roses, not only does she the best job in motivating me to write, she also helped me to figure out how to focus on this precious “mystery” story <3
> 
> lots of love!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> half-time, my wonderful readers <3  
> can't believe we are already five chapters in – and let me tell you this chapter is kind of a turning point!  
> This chapter is my personal "Anna Karenina", my final document was 33 pages long (not kidding, 33! the magical number!)  
> As always have a good time reading :)

> _You see the moon is bright in that treetop night_
> 
> _I see the shadows that we cast in the cold clean light_
> 
> _Now my feet are gold, and my heart is white_
> 
> – Phosphorescent, _Song for Zula_

* * *

In Winden the insomnia had always greeted him, with a certain unsettling unrest.

Almost painful, a void in his stomach – an urge to get out of bed and walk around in the tiny hotel room.

Actually more a hostel, than an actual hotel, since the town had nothing like that to offer.

The surname of the woman behind the receptionist desk was Jung.

The Hostel was called _Erna_.

“She was my great-aunt,” she had explained to Clausen and him upon their arrival,

“She always took the strays in. When people were in need of food or shelter, she provided a roof of them.

Back then all of this was a kind of a farm...”

 _Strays_. How very fitting.

His first night in Winden, he just laid there.

He was grateful for not running through the woods in his mind for once.

 _You're are just nervous_ , he thought to himself, _You hate all of it._

_Which life will you be responsible for ruining this time?_

“DOPPLER,” Clausen had told him in the morning,

“I haven't heard you scream last night,” he added expressionless.

Years upon years, Aleksander always knew, that everything Clausen did, asked or said was not out of empathy.

He never cared about the feelings of anyone.

Not a flake of sympathy had ever been visible in his eyes – the only person, he ever had cared for was gone.

 _It is your fault_ , _Aleksander. Your fault_.

Clausen observed everyone and everything.

Private investigator, the only occupation, he could ever been passionate about.

Digging through the dirt of other people's businesses – liars and lies.

He enjoyed putting his fingers into already open wounds,

tearing carefully built facades apart, destroying peaceful existences.

“They don't deserve any of the glory, if it stands on the fundament of lies,”

Clausen once had justified his actions.

They did cruel things to people with lives and families.

Exposing their secrets, revealing the truth – but what was worth the truth, if it destroyed everything else?

Aleksander never wanted it. But there was no choice.

 _Because you made a decision, Aleksander_.

The nightmares as a price. He needed to suffer for all the things he had done.

A world of lies and hell behind his eyes.

 _We deserve it, Aleksander_.

Maybe he was fed up with it.

He even felt a slight feeling of sickness, as he tossed and turned, trying to find comfort in the new foreign bed.

The new foreign town, the new perspective of a possible way out of this disaster of his life.

A bitter unrest, that kept him awake.

Making him flush hot and cold, his body indecisive.

_If I can't find sleep, I can exhaust myself, so maybe I will get tired enough to collapse into bed_ , he thought.

The third night in a row with next to no sleep at all – he went outside.

Exploring the streets of Winden.

At first, it wouldn't help him at all.

But then he felt his unrest fade, the more closer he got to the woods.

And in the early morning hours, while walking through the trees, he discovered,

that since the day everything changed in his life –

he had been running through the woods of Winden in his nightmarish dreams.

For the first time in years, he found peace in the debts of the wild and beautiful paths in front of him.

Even more overwhelming, than the revelation, that he had found the exact scenery,

his mind had shown him his entire life as _Aleksander Köhler,_

was meeting the woman, who's voice he had listen to in his dreams.

The effect Regina Doppler had on him was unearthly.

She calmed and stirred himself at the same time.

She cured his nightmares, she let him sleep, she caused him to smile, she made him breathe.

He fell in love within mere hours, a familiar undertow, he was willing to relent to.

He slept peacefully, until the day his lips had first met her cheek.

Full moon and again he couldn't find rest.

The unrest was back and pulled him out into the night again.

 _She makes me so brave,_ he thought, while he walked through the trees.

Arriving upon the familiar forest glade, he took a moment to take a deep breath of the cold, clean air,

looking into the starry night sky above him,

Regina on his mind.

“I am awake,” she whispered, “this is not a nightmare nor a dream.”

He looked at her. He did not even flinch.

They met in the woods, as they always should have, in the first place.

> _Let me give my love to you_
> 
> _Let me take your hand_
> 
> _And as we walk in the dimming light_
> 
> _Oh, darling, understand_
> 
> \- Death Cap for Cutie, _Meet Me on the Equinox_

* * *

Her hand still lay in the crook of his arm, as they walked through the trees, towards the lights of her house.

To be so close to him filled her with a warm feeling of peace.

It filled a part inside of her, which she always had considered as sore and empty.

Despite the chilling air around them, the darkness of the trees,

the absurdity of the whole situation, she felt how her shoulders relaxed.

All the tension vanished from her muscles and nerves –

being so close to him, brought a strength into her bones, she never imagined before.

His warmth, his closeness, his familiarity – she wanted to put her head on his shoulder.

 _Carry me_ , she wanted to plead, _or let me hold you for an eternity._

“I don't suffer from insomnia,” she began to tell him, “I sleep, but it's in the things I do and see, while I sleep...”

While she told him about her history of sleep problems,

she discovered even more, what a wonderful listener he was.

He never interrupted her, he looked at her, even tho she wasn't able to hold his gaze

for too long without loosing the thread of her thoughts.

In the moments when her voice slightly quivered from emotion,

he reached for her hand on his arm and squeezed it in an comforting gesture.

The whole time, even when she talked about her recklessly attempts of quitting her medicine,

she didn't felt the slightest judgement from him, and this made her very grateful.

They arrived on her lawn and she turned herself to face him and reluctantly let go of his arm.

“Since the night we met,” she took a deep breath,

“all of it has stopped. I still have no clue, what all of it means, but... I sleep very good and my dreams –”

she blushed, but forced herself to look him into the eyes,

“are not nightmares any longer, because _you_ are in them.”

She shiveringly breathed out in relief.

“Regina,” he whispered and moved towards her.

He gently stroked with his hand through her hair.

She wrapped her arms around his middle, and she felt his lips kissing her forehead.

They stayed like this for a while.

“You are very brave and strong,” she heard him say,

but she only closed her eyes, finally finding the courage to rest her head on his shoulder.

A wave of exhaustion overcame her.

She trusted him, in sharing her story and secret with him, but still to do so drained a lot of energy from her.

Aleksander's arms held her shoulders in a tight embrace.

“Your heart beats so fast,” she said and laid her hand on his chest.

“I guess, this is the effect you have on me,” he replied and his words almost made her cry.

She felt how he filled his lungs with air, as if he was preparing himself for the things he wanted to say,

“As I told you,” he said, “I walk through the woods, too – not only in reality,”

he let his arms sink from her shoulders,

Regina raised her head to look at him, “Like you, I dreamt about them. It started in 19 –”

“86,” Regina completed his sentences.

He nodded, his hands stroking along her upper arms.

“In this nightmare, I am in –”

“the woods of Winden,” Regina added.

“There's blood,” he continued.

“On your hands?” she asked, her eyes widened.

“It is...” he hesitated, “everywhere.”

A shiver ran all over her body.

“A voice is calling,” he said, “It always felt very real to me.”

“I always try to follow someone,” Regina repeated the words, she had told him before,

“My whole life, I was convinced that there is more to this,”

she really couldn't say, what the expression on his face meant.

_Is he scared of me?_

He took his phone out of the pocket of his coat.

He turned it and she was able to see his motion profile.

A digital map of the woods.

Red dots and lines – all too similiar to her own movement observations...

She gasped.

“What's wrong?” he asked worriedly.

Regina looked at him and grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the house,

“Let me show you something!”

She ran into her living room and her pace almost made her slither.

She got on her knees and lifted the loose floorboard up.

Aleksander hunched down next to her and watched how she pulled a folded paper from the hiding place.

With shaking hands Regina frantically spread the wide map in front of them on the ground.

The woods of Winden.

Different positions noted on it.

Big, red letters screaming _WHERE'S THE CAVE?_

“Great minds think alike,” Regina looked up and smiled conspiratorially at Aleksander, who felt goosebumps forming on his limbs.

Regina took Aleksander's phone from his hand.

She stared back and forth between his and her positions.

The dots formed three groups.

Almost in... _oval shapes._

_Tannhaus always wrote about three worlds._

She heard Peter's voice in her mind.

“Give me a minute,” she said eagerly and got up. _Could it be?_

She went for her fridge and grabbed the note, which she had pinned there a while ago.

 _Perhaps_ , _I am sort of like Jana..._

Back on the floor, next to a very tense looking Aleksander,

she put the cap of a red marker between her teeth and started drawing.

Line after line she scribbled on the surface of the map, connecting his and her dots.

Aleksander leaned forward and carefully removed the plastic out of her mouth.

Regina had no time to thank him.

“Is this a triquetra?” Aleksander asked.

She stopped her movements and he noticed a certain flickering in her eyes – like flames,

“Yes,” she whispered, “Your positions – tell me, _where_ have we met tonight?”

Aleksander looked at his phone and for a moment,

his eyes were fixated at the lines of the strange sketch Regina had drawn on the map.

“We met,” he took a deep breath,

“here,” he put his finger in the middle of the triquetra.

The point where _all_ the lines overlapped.

Regina's and Aleksander's eyes met.

Her skin was cold, she shivered – but inside of her, it felt like an explosion happened.

“You are the cave!” Regina exclaimed.

“ _Cave_?” Aleksander replied,

“I know, that there's a saying about _no man being an island,_ but me being a _cave_?”

“No! No!” Regina ran her hands through her hair. _I need him to understand._

“You are _my_ cave!”

He looked even more confused, “I – sorry, Regina – I don't quite follow.”

Her patience was wearing thin. She tried to calm herself, closing her eyes.

_Breathe in and out. He is here, he listens to you. Tell him what you see._

She opened her eyes, “The place, I've searched for, in my dreams,”

her finger joined his on the paper surface,

“It was _you_.”

She smiled at him, “That's the secret,” tears stung in her eyes,

“All those years, I searched for the caves and I think, I found the answer,” her voice quivered.

Aleksander intertwined his fingers with hers.

She couldn't tell what happened behind those deep depths of metallic motion,

“This sounds...”

Regina braced herself for something hurtful.

Now he would tell her, that she was mad.

He would call an ambulance.

_Nightmare child, nightmare child_ , the voices of her bullies chanted in her mind.

But as she found the courage to look at his face again, she realised that there was only kindness and... was it _trust_?

“Amazing,” he said, “I guess – no, I _think_ , it's true.”

Regina's heart skipped a beat.

Aleksander pulled their hands closer to his chest,

“ _You_ are the voice from my dreams,” he told her with emphasis on the first word.

_He believes me._

“The reason why you are so familiar to me,”

a relieved smile spread across his face, “is because it was you, who called me in my sleep.”

Regina moved towards him and closed the gap between them.

For a few seconds they stared into the other's eyes.

They sat so close on the floor, their hands closely intertwined, their noses almost touching.

Their eyes couldn't decide to look into the other's or at the other's lips.

The thrill of joy about their discovery made them both shaking from overwhelming emotion.

Aleksander freed one hand from hers and caressed a strand of hair out of her face.

Regina sighed.

“I have to tell you a secret about me,” he whispered,

“It's dark and I'll ruin everything.”

“Nothing is able to scare me any more, Aleksander.” she leaned in.

She wanted to feel his lips on hers so badly,

but he stopped her.

Before she even got the chance to touch him, by putting his hand on her shoulder,

blocking her attempts to kiss him.

_I knew it. Of course, he never felt the same for me._

The hurtful thought flashed through her mind, leaving her embarrassed and insecure.

“Actually, I would prefer to never tell you, but it's not fair.

You deserve the truth right from the beginning, so that you'll be able to make a choice.

Which is also not fair, at all,” he almost breathless said.

He hurriedly strung his words together, his hands still on her body.

Regina pushed his hand off her shoulder, got up and moved away from him.

Now she was on the edge.

All the heated euphoria turned stone-cold and vanished as quickly as it had come.

_What secret and why does it need to ruin the moment now?_

“Well, then feel free to tell me,” she had a hard time controlling her voice.

_At whom are you angry? Him or yourself?_

“Let me decide, what I feel about it,” she crossed her arms, her chin trembled as she raised it.

He nodded and got on his feet, as well.

As far as possible away from her, he sat down at the table.

Regina wasn't able to move, her legs trembled.

Aleksander wanted nothing more, than to stare at the tabletop – becoming one with the wood.

He wished to avoid Regina's remorselessly glare.

He never wanted to witness the emotions his story probably was about to cause onto her face.

But if he wanted to make it right, he needed to look at her.

It was so important, that she understood, that he was telling the truth.

_The truth matters, Aleksander. The truth is always worth it – at least a try._

_You might going to loose her, but even if... you will be free from the lies._

_A life with Regina in truth, that is worth every endeavour._

So he raised his eyes and promised himself to keep looking at her face for the whole time.

“I am a journalist, but Clausen is more of a private investigator,” he began.

He told her about the job offers, the tasks, the exposing of secrets – simply making money out of the downfall of others.

“Aha,” Regina said toneless. _What's the matter with that?_ she asked herself.

It was certainly not a _noble_ way to earn their bread and butter, but _who am I to judge..._

Aleksander almost had created the impression, that his secret was something _really_ terrifying.

'My brother is not a good person.' – what kind of darkness was that?

But Aleksander's next sentence, pulled the rug out from under her feet.

“The reason we came to Winden is to investigate against _your_ parents and their clinic,” he told her.

The shock hit her deep. “What?” she hissed and her face twisted with upset.

She traversed the room and pressed her hands on the table in front of him.

“I am going to explain –” he continued weakly.

A disgusted expression joined the frown on Regina's face.

One corner of her mouth twitched upwards, she almost snarled,

“You better! Your brother and _you_ are doing what?”

“He is not my brother,” Aleksander declined.

“Then who is he?” Regina asked impatiently, her voice became louder.

“He is the brother of the man of who's disappearance, I am responsible for.”

  
Regina pulled away from him. All the colour had drained from her face.

_Truth or lie, Aleksander – what is the difference, if it causes her pain?_

He kept sight of the woman, he felt so much for.

He took a deep breath.

Regina stood there, her arms wrapped around herself, so tight, as if she was trying to keep herself from falling apart.

“Go on, please,” she whispered.

He couldn't. He just looked at her.

 _Give me an eternity of nescience_ , he pleaded in his thoughts,

 _or let me lie to you for the rest of our lives_.

“I said, GO ON!” she shouted at him.

He flinched.

Slowly he got out of the coat, he was still wearing.

He put it in front of him on the table and pulled three items out of an inside pocket.

A newspaper article and two passports.

Aleksander pushed the piece of yellowed thin paper in her direction.

She moved towards the table again and one hand still close to her body,

she bent over and her eyes hectically skimmed over the text.

_An unsolved case of murder. Marburg, Autumn 1986._

“I made decisions in my past live,” Aleksander said quietly, “that I can never undo...”

Regina's eyes rested on some words.

_an armed robbery – a metalwork shop – two masked men – an exchange of shots._

_A master locksmith died as a result of his gunshot injuries... an unsuccessful manhunt._

She looked down into the paleness of the man's face in front of her.

“Aleksander–” she couldn't help, but ask for more explanation.

_How is all of this connected to my parents?_

“I am a trained metalworker, I worked at this shop,” he gestured to the article in her hands.

“Someone made an enormous cash payment, the day before. I knew, that a friend of mine..,”

he opened one of the passports, revealing an all too familiar name and a photography of a person...

Aghast at this sight, Regina looked from the photo back to Aleksander.

The person in the photo definitely was _not_ the Aleksander in front of her.

Her body decided against goosebumps, the sight of the strange man on the picture, made her blood run cold in every part within herself.

_Aleksander Köhler._

“...was in need of a lot of money. I wanted to help,” he took the passport in his hands and studied the old document.

“He always got me out of trouble,” the faint shadow of a smile played around the corner of his mouth,

“I owed him a lot. He was a really good person. A criminal, but nevertheless...”

his words lost themselves in the dusty air of the living room, soon the sun would rise and he hadn't even reached the point of his story.

Regina took the passport out of his hands,

“You and... the _other_ Aleksander,” she held the newspaper next to it in front of him,

“Did that?”

Aleksander nodded, “Suddenly he had a gun – I don't even know, where he got it from.”

Imagines flashed through his mind.

Years had passed – still the memories of that night, caused his hands to shake.

“You got shot, too,” Regina remarked, putting both items back on the tabletop, her arms encircling her middle again.

It was no question.

His eyes widened, “How do you know?” he wrung his hands anxiously.

“I am a doctor's daughter, remember?” she pulled a chair towards herself and sat down opposite to him.

“My godmother is a nurse. I have to admit, it took me some time, but as I figured it out – it made sense...

a scarring like that, only a bullet would cause that,” she reached out her hand.

Aleksander hesitated, but then he took it.

She hold onto it tight, “Who was the one who –”

“Who is the murderer?” he interrupted her. She nodded.

“What difference does it make?” he pulled his hand out of her grip.

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“I was there when it happened,” he put his head in his hands and rubbed his fingers through his hair,

“I had a choice and I decided to go for it,” he pressed through his teeth.

Regina reached for him again.

This time she took both of his hands in hers.

She was confused, she felt anger and she wouldn't let him go, without answering the question,

how all of this story was connected to her parents – but she wanted to comfort him.

To see him in such a state of turmoil and despair, hurt her more, than the revelation of his tragic past...

Their fingers intertwined and Aleksander held onto them for dear life.

He almost forgot to breathe.

The touch of her fingers, warmer than his, pulled him back into the reality.

_She is still here. She still tries to keep you here_ – _trust her, Aleksander._

“You weren't the one who shotted,” Regina said calm,

“It was him,” she pointed at the passport,

“This is Clausen's brother, isn't he?”

Aleksander nodded reluctantly.

“You're not a murderer,” she told him.

He shook his head, “I am as worst as one.”

Regina ignored his remark and squeezed his hands.

“What about Clausen's brother?” she asked instead,

“Actually,” she let one of his hands go, opened the passport and looked at the name again,

“Why is Clausen calling himself that, when his brother is named Köhler?” she raised her eyebrows wonderingly.

It took Aleksander a few seconds to find his voice again.

Was she really asking questions, in her calm, melodic tone, as if they were small talking about family relations and the weather?

– what a marvellous woman.

He expected everything, but not this interest and affection. _Unearthly_.

He longed for kissing her; returning all her loving gestures, holding her close – but no.

She needed to be aware of who he was.

 _I died in those woods_ , he thought, _I died and now I am in a weird version of the aftermath._

_Not hell, but also not heaven._

_Something in between, she will be the judge to decide, which path will be mine._

“Ähm, Clausen's mother married a Herr Köhler, when he was younger.

His real name is Köhler, but he never felt like he was belonging to the family.

Clausen is the maiden name of his mother and he started calling himself that at some point.

He hated Aleksander's father, but not him – his half brother meant a lot to him. Still does.”

Regina nodded.

“After the... robbery, we fled,” Aleksander continued,

“We were aware, that we would never be able to return.

We split up the money, we actually had no time to make a plan, so... we just to ran away – before we went separate ways,”

he opened the other passport, revealing another name and another photography of a young man,

“We switched our identities.”

Regina gasped, “You look so familiar!”

she whispered in shock and gently removed her fingers from Aleksander's to stroke with her index finger over the black and white surface.

She put a hand in front of her mouth.

“Guess what I felt, when I saw this picture,” he pointed at the family portrait, hanging on the wall behind her.

“I've seen your face before, nobody can convince me otherwise.”

Regina raised her hand and gingerly stroked a strand of hair from his forehead,

“You already had those back then,” she smiled and caressed the lines on his skin.

“Why have you cut your hair? It suits you.”

For the first time since a while, a real smile found it's way back onto Aleksander's face,

“To look more serious, more grown up – more like an actual _Aleksander_.”

“ _Boris Niewald_ ,” Regina read out loud.

He nodded, “This was my name.”

“Look, it was already expired back then, I only carried it around for – I don't know... nostalgic reasons.

Nowadays I am very grateful, it helps me to realise, that all of it really happened.

This life is strange... Now it serves as proof for you.”

“What about your family?” she asked her eyes never leaving his.

“I had no real family,” he said,

“Absent parents. I had an aunt, I was at a boarding school, but I dropped out, I got this job,”

he tipped on the newspaper article,

“They trained me and then I robbed the only sheltered roof, I've ever had. Boris was an idiotic idiot for his whole life.”

“ _idiotic idiot_ ,” Regina repeated affectionately, “you Shakespeare,”

she giggled, but then she stopped herself abruptly, “I am sorry. Nothing of this is funny. I am –”

“You don't have to be sorry,” Aleksander smiled at her, “For real, I did it to myself, I had all of this coming.”

“What happened after you _became_ Aleksander?”

“I have no clue, I lived from day to day, different cities and towns.

I worked as a metalworker. I became a journalist, I wrote articles and short stories,

I just went into those editorial offices and told them I wanted to work and write and I sold my texts. And somehow it always worked well,”

he took a key ring out of the pocket of his coat.

Two single keys and a huge collection of flash drives.

Regina got up and came back with her old notebook.

Aleksander gave her one of the portable devices and she put it into a slot.

“These are almost all the articles I wrote and sold over the last years.

If you want to see those I wrote in the 80's and 90's, you can search them up. I publish under pseudonym.”

Regina clicked and a text document opened.

_By Bartosz Niewald._

A warm rush of tenderness overwhelmed her.

“Bartosz?” she asked.

“You are the first one to pronounce it right at first try...” Aleksander said taken aback.

“This is not my first try,” Regina heard her own voice say, almost automatic,

“I know this name – I have no clue why.”

_Constant deja-vù's meaning_ was an already open tab in her browser.

Aleksander and her exchanged glances, “You know, I just always knew and liked this name – this sounds very crazy –”

“Oh, I feel like I am able to handle _very_ _crazy_ by now,” Regina opened some other articles,

“Do you mind, if I save some of them? I would love to read what you write...” she blushed.

Aleksander nodded, very grateful for the return of colour on her cheeks,

“Of course! You are the first person to read my articles, which I actually know,” he smiled.

Regina closed the lid of her laptop and gave him the item back.

“A few years everything was... I was still on the run, but I was okay with it sort of. And then,”

his expression became grim,

“Clausen turned up. I wasn't even aware, that Aleks or... _now_ Boris, has a brother. Clausen thinks, it was me, who killed the man...”

“He – Aleks –I mean, Boris is still alive?” she asked.

“Yes, but I don't want to know where he is now...” he trailed off – his words lost themselves again.

“Have you ever told Clausen?” she tried to get his attention back.

He shook his head, “We promised each other to never talk about it to anyone.”

“Why are you breaking your promise for me?”

“You are the only person worth breaking promises for, Regina.”

She drew in a shaking breath.

“Another truth is...” he folded his hands, and his eyes caught hers again,

“...there is something that connect us – as if it was always meant to be,”

he gestured towards the map on the floor.

“I would love to have you, as a part of my life, that's why I am telling you. I don't want to lie to you.”

“I... I...” Regina tried to find words, but she couldn't, “I am... overwhelmed,” she finished stutteringly.

“It's okay,” Aleksander smiled at her, “It's a lot. I am truly sorry, for putting you through this.”

“Why are you working with him?” she asked and he noticed, that the paleness crawled back onto her skin.

“Clausen blackmails me. If I don't help him with these investigations, he will get me into jail for the robbery. But,”

he held up the key ring with the countless flash drives up again,

“I am planning my escape for a while now. I collected a lot of evidence against him, as well,”

he put it down again and chuckled joyless,

“Meanwhile I have just as much hold over his head, as he has over mine.”

“Like a stalemate,” Regina whispered.

He nodded, “The night we met, I wanted to ran away again,” he leaned back in his chair,

“But then there was you and I knew, I could endure everything, as long as I could get a chance to get to know you,”

he sighed, “This is my story, Regina Doppler. This is my secret.”

Regina leaned forward and put both of her hands on the tabletop again.

“ _Who_ sent you to ruin my parent's legacy?” she asked, her eyes fixating him, “And _why_?”

_Who's messing with my family?_

“I don't know, _yet_.

I tried to find out, but Clausen never tells me about our _clients_.

But I am on it. I'll make sure to find an answer to that question, I promise you.”

“You found nothing against my parents,” Regina said and again it was not a question.

She was already convinced.

“Exactly,” Aleksander replied and Regina gruffly nodded.

“What would do, if I would react differently?”

Aleksander suddenly overcome a sudden coldness.

_Why is she asking that?_

“I would ran away,” he answered in earnest,

“It's what I know best. I just would vanish. I am already a man on the run.”

“How about staying?” she asked, “With me?”

“Yes, I would love to stay with you,” he replied.

Her chin began to quiver.

“May I kiss you?” Aleksander asked.

“Yes, I would love to kiss you,” Regina replied.

He rose up, but she was already close to him and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck.

As they kissed for the first time, gently and slow – her lips even softer, than he had imagined them

– both felt another overwhelming sensation of the familiar déjà vu,

which accompanied nearly every of their interactions, but this time it was in a good and comforting way.

“Everything is okay,” Regina's lips whispered, only inches away from his.

“Everything is okay,” he repeated and he meant it.

As their lips moved against the others again, Regina's hands wandered to the sides of his face;

his fingers entangled themselves into the deep waves of her hair.

Everything felt so warm and tender.

They leaned against the other, put their foreheads together, caught their breaths, while listening to the hammering rhythms of their beating hearts.

None of them wanting to break their tight embrace.

“What name do you prefer?” Regina asked, her hands touched his neck and shoulders.

The question surprised him. Never before had there even been a person, who could ask him that...

“Aleksander, if I am honest,”

he stroked strands of hair out of her face and caressed over the blushed skin of her face,

“I am not Boris any longer.”

She smiled understandingly, “Okay, Aleksander.”

“Thank you for asking,” he embraced her body even tighter.

“Of course,” she leaned in for another kiss.

“And which birthdate?” she asked, putting a hand on his chest.

“I never celebrated my birthday...” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh, well then it's about time!” her whole face lit up.

Her enthusiasm fascinated him.

“I guess, I would prefer my own. My actual birthdate,” he told her.

“Thank god,” she joyful exclaimed, “The zodiac sign fits so much better to your personality!”

He kissed her again.

> _Just for a minute, the silver forked sky_
> 
> _Lifts you up like a star that I will follow_
> 
> _And now it's found us like I have found you_
> 
> _I don't want to run, just overwhelm me_
> 
> \- Snow Patrol, _The Lightning Strike (Part 1, What If This Storm Ends?)_

* * *

“If it were up to me, Jonas wouldn't be baptised _that_ early,” Hannah shrugged her shoulders, “but Torben insisted on it.”

All four women sat on the carpet of the living room in the Wöller's house.

Jonas laid on a blanket in the middle of them and hold onto Regina's index finger with his tiny hand.

“Does he sleep better now?” Katharina asked Hannah, while she helped Bernadette with folding the laundry.

Hannah nodded, “I am thankful for that, it really scared me, that it was so hard to calm him down...”

she caressed over the baby's head.

“How is Peter?” she asked Bernadette.

Bernadette stroked her hair out of her face, “Actually it gets easier for him, too. He is still very nervous and...”

she sighed, “He had to reduce his working hours, because he can't work, when he's too sleep-deprived.

I mean, we do see each other more now, which is very beautiful, but...” she trailed off,

“He's not really the one, he was before the attack,” she looked at Regina, who tried to blink her tears away.

“Gina,” Bernadette got up and hugged her,

“Don't be sad, it's not your fault – it is a serious trauma, but he will get through it, we are all there for him.”

Regina sniffed and tried to calm herself, “I just feel so guilty,” she admitted quietly.

“It's a good thing, that nothing like that happened to you,” Katharina told her,

“Except for the huge crush on that shady guy,” all of them giggled.

Regina smiled at her comment. She wiped her eyes, while she mouthed a _thank you_ to Bernadette.

“I actually have some news for you all,” she said and nervously took a deep breath,

“Aleksander and me, it's something now.”

Bernadette squeaked in excitement.

“You're joking!” Hannah said with winded eyes, “Tell everything!”

Katharina just crossed her arms, Regina had called her and told her the news yesterday, the morning after their first kiss.

Katharina didn't even bother pretending, that she was happy about it.

She made no mention of Aleksander's secret. Of course. She had no notion of ever talking to someone about it.

“We are doing a little party after the baptism,” Hannah smiled, “Bring Aleksander with you! I need to meet him!”

“Oh yes! He is about to bear the brunt of whole Winden!” Bernadette chuckled,“This is going to be a huge get-to-know-everybody!”

“Yes, let him bear the brunt,” Katharina snarled.

“Be kind, Kathi,” Hannah nudged Katharina's shoulder, “I am very happy for you, Regina!”

“I have something for you three as well –” she got up, took three cards from the table and handed one over to each.

Written on it, below a picture of Jonas, was _“Will you be my godmother?”_

“If Torben wants him to be baptised, I want to choose the godparents, and I can't imagine better ones then the three of you, and Peter of course!” Hannah said.

“The little one is going to have an army of godparents,” Aleksander smiled as Regina told him the story about Jonas' upcoming baptism.

He gave back the card to Regina, “I can't believe it,” Regina exclaimed cheery,

“This” she looked at the photo of Jonas, “is my soon-to-be godson!”

she pinned the card on the fridge, next to Peter's drawing of the triquetra.

The map with the woods of Winden and their scribbled positions was already framed, but she was not sure were to hang it up.

“I am very happy for you!” Aleksander caressed her back, as he put down his wine glass and kept on cutting vegetables on the kitchen counter.

“Your parents will be there, as well, won't they?” he asked casually.

“Yes, of course, my mother adores Jonas!” Regina laughed and grabbed an onion, to help him with the dinner preparations.

“I would like to tell your parents, before I meet them there,” Aleksander said.

“Tell them what?” Regina asked, a little distracted.

“The reason why I came to Winden,” he replied and Regina felt a sting inside her nose.

“The investigation against them, my past – everything.”

A big drop of blood dripped on the surface in front of her.

Aleksander startled.

“What are you doing?” he asked with concern.

“Bleeding!” Regina hissed and went for the sink to bow over,

“I told you, it happens when I am stressed.”

“Just the thought of me meeting your parents –”

“Yeah, just the thought,” she mimicked his words.

He moved closer and took the kitchen towel, which hung upon his shoulder, “May I?”

Regina sighed and nodded. She watched how Aleksander opened the tap and watered the cloth.

He wrung it out.

“Tell me why this stresses you out so badly,” he pleaded her softly, while he gently took her hair together and placed it over one of her shoulders.

“I don't want my parents to worry,” she explained.

“My mother is already stressed enough. Perhaps she will get a shock or something worse,”

she flinched at the sudden cold, as he draped the damp towel over her neck.

“I'm sorry, Regina,” he apologised and kissed her temple.

Another drop of blood seeped into the sink.

“My father had a stroke last summer,” she continued, “I am not sure how much he can handle...”

“I see,” Aleksander replied. He took another towel and handed it over to her, so she was able to wipe the red liquid from her face,

“You know, the reason I want to tell them about me and everything is...”

Regina tilted her head so she was able to look at him,

“They need to know, they need to know someone's after them,” he crossed his arms,

“How can they ever trust me, if I'm not telling them right from the beginning

– if Clausen finds something against them and what if your parents find out, that I was involved in it in the first place –”

Regina raised her head, she gave a damn about her bleeding nose, she reached for Aleksander's arm.

He was desperate, still caught in the despair of his familiar hopelessness.

“You are their daughter, I want them to know about me, because I want you to stay in my life for good.”

“For good?” repeated Regina.

He nodded. She leaned in and kissed him.

“We have to be very... carefully with them, but I am with you. We are going to tell them.

But perhaps not the thing with the positions and the map and the situations with my voice in your nightmares and you being my cave in mine –

I don't think they can handle that added to your story.”

He chuckled, “Okay, that's fine by me.”

They kissed again and as they let go of the other, Regina started giggling.

“You have my blood on your face, now.”

“And all of that _really_ happened?” Claudia exclaimed in joy.

Her eyes big with excitement.

Regina had been wrong about her parents.

They seemed to be able to handle _everything_.

Both of the elderly couple enjoyed to listening to Aleksander telling every detail about his tragic and _slightly_ criminal past.

Claudia was a worst listener and always interrupted him with probing questions.

The realisation, that sometimes she was even worse than her mother, hit Regina hard.

Bernd's eyes were glued to Aleksander's lips and he looked, like he was exceptionally entertained by the mystery, which unfolded in front of them.

“Oh what a story!” Claudia laughed, her cheeks were rosy. The agitation, Aleksander had caused, was too much for her to stay neatly on her chair.

“Have you made a discovery?” Bernd leaned forward and put his folded hands above the table.

“No,” Aleksander shook is head reassuringly, “Your work is outstanding.”

“It's so typical of you to ask Bernd,” Claudia rolled her eyes at her husband, “Of course, our work is _always_ outstandingly. We don't do mistakes!”

Regina suddenly became aware, that the entwined fingers of her father trembled.

A muscle next to his eye twitched. Never before she had witnessed something like that on him.

“Papa,” she whispered and reached for his arm.

“Yes, daughter-dear,” he looked at her.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course I am!” he smiled way to bright, even by his standards...

“What if you're lying?” Bernd asked loud and raised his brows to Aleksander.

“He isn't, Bernd,” Claudia, pattered Aleksander's shoulder.

“The simple truth is I want to be with your daughter,” he caught Regina's gaze and she blushed,

“This requires me to tell you the truth. Regina changed everything – but I wouldn't trust me either.”

“There are no truths, just stories,” her father's expression suddenly turned to stone,

“It's up to us, we decide what kind of story we want to tell.”

“Yes, and I decide to go for the true one, Herr Doppler,” Aleksander said, holding his stern gaze.

“Ach,” Bernd nodded approvingly and looked to his wife, who smiled amusedly. Her father extended a hand towards Aleksander, “Just say _Bernd_ , Son.”

The turn of the conversation took a weight off Regina's mind.

 _Thank god, they believe him,_ she thought.

“I have a question, Aleksander,” Claudia sat on her chair again, “Do you speak french?”

Bernd laughed loud, “Oh, darling,” he admiringly patted Claudia's arm.

“Mama!” Regina rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Aleksander just smiled, “ _Je commence quand?_ ” he asked.

“It's about time, this place is filled with life again!”

Pastor Molch greeted Hannah, as she arrived along her friends and family, before the service in the Saint Christopher Church,

“Thank you, for bringing your son into our parish!”

“Oh, actually – it was my partners idea,” she smiled awkwardly, while adjusted Jonas on her arm, to shake the priest's hand.

“Are you religious?” Peter asked quietly, as he and Bernadette walked inside the old building, next to Aleksander and Regina.

“Are you?” Aleksander avoided answering.

The question lit up Peter's pale face.

Bernadette sighed happily at the return of his fond of telling stories and let go of Peter's hand.

She went over and linked her arm with Regina's, “Nervous?” she whispered in her ear.

“A little,” Regina's eye caught sight of Jana.

The elderly woman stood beside Ulla and Helge, only a few steps away.

“Kathi and I agreed, that you should hold Jonas during the ceremony!” Bernadette continued.

“Me?” Regina replied joyful.

Bernadette nodded, “He's always so calm with you, Hannah said this might could be helpful.”

“Thank you!” she said gratefully, “This means a lot to me.”

As they reached the middle of the nave, they stopped walking.

“I'll call Kathi! She's late – like always,” Bernadette giggled.

Peter just started telling, that he wanted to become a priest himself,

Regina touched Aleksander's elbow,

“I'll be right back,” she whispered, “I need to say hello to someone.”

“Of course,” he smiled and turned to Peter again.

Regina went over to Ulla, who just guided Jana in one of church pews,

“Sweetie!” Ulla exclaimed and hugged her young sister-in-law, “So good to see you! Is Claudia already here?”

“Not yet, I guess,” Regina replied.

Ulla was about to say something, as Jana suddenly grabbed onto Regina's hand,

“I am glad, he's here!” she smiled bright.

“Who Jana?” Ulla asked in confusion, “Who is here?”

“Her man on the run!” Jana pointed over to Aleksander, who still stood in front of the altar with Peter.

Helge joined them and introduced himself to Aleksander.

“I am a journalist, too!” Regina heard her elderly brother say in excitement.

Aleksander's eyes crinkled at the mention of his writing profession.

A warm feeling spread inside her chest.

Regina loved when his smiles reached his eyes.

“Aha,” Ulla raised her brows, then took a deep breath,

“Well, I will look out for your mother, Gina,” and with that she left the two women on their own.

“Thank god!” Jana exclaimed and Regina laughed.

“It's very nice to see you!” Regina told her in honesty and both embraced the other,

“May I ask you something?”

Jana nodded and they sat down on the wooden bench.

“I thought a lot about the storm,” Regina began,

“What if we are the storm? You and me or everyone,” she looked around the church,

who bit by bit filled with attendees for the baptism,

“The eye is something else. Or what if we are the eye and the storm is different?”

she tried to explain her thoughts.

She needed answers to that.

Since her discovery of the meaning of the cave in her dreams, her mind had set itself on finding more explanations for the things,

who were still wrapped in mystery in Winden.

 _Jana's storm_ was one of those mysterious happenings.

Jana's expression became compassionately,

“Sometimes even time itself has good timing,” she stroked through Regina's wavy hair,

“He showed up at the right moment.”

“Aleksander?”

Jana nodded.

“What does all of this mean?”

“Oh my dear girl, I don't know it either,” she sighed, “Nothing is just like it was.”

Regina felt even more confused than before.

“There are things out there, that our little minds will never comprehend,” Jana grimly added,

“Nothing's repeating itself these days any more. But he,” she looked back to the group of men,

“showed up at the right moment,” she smiled again,

“Try to trust your instincts.”

“Aleksander isn't on the run any more,” Regina told her.

“Are you sure of that?” Jana asked, all the kindness was drained from her face and Regina's mouth went dry.

She couldn't answer.

“Nothing is just like it was,” Jana repeated her words, “All those _times_ ago.”

Claudia and Ines seated Aleksander between themselves in the pew.

Regina sat down next to her father, who's wheelchair stood at the end of the row.

Regina exchanged glances with Bernd, who patted a reassuring hand on her knee.

“Mama will scare him off, I tell you,” she sighed.

“And I tell you, he will stay. No matter what your mother does.

Telling us his secret was a very good choice. I am glad he did.

I still don't know, who he is, but at least he tries everything, I will acknowledge that.”

“Thank you, Papa,” Regina put her head on his shoulder.

She overheard how Ines said, “We already know each other!”

“Oh yes,” her mother replied, “From the incident, were you saved my daughter!”

“She saved herself,” Aleksander's voice remarked, “It was actually my fault she's got –”

“However,” Claudia interrupted him, “Now we are here and everybody's fine!”

“You are Regina's godmother?” Aleksander asked.

“Yes, yes, I am,” Ines answered, “I held her, over there,”

Regina saw how Ines pointed over to the baptismal font, “She cried the whole time.”

“She thrashed around, like a fish out of water!” Claudia giggled.

“Mama...” Regina raised her head from her father's shoulder.

But Claudia ignored her, “She was very loud. She hated the water over her head. As a baby, Regina hated _everything_!”

“She still does!" Regina hissed. “Mama, will you please be quiet!”

Aleksander leaned back and put his arm over the seatback and stretched himself, so that his fingers nudged against Regina's shoulder.

She looked at him, a slight blush on her cheeks.

He caressed his knuckles along her jawline.

She raised her hand and intertwined her fingers with his.

“So I took her and I was always able to calm her down – Oh hello, Dr. Reimann!” Ines exclaimed cheery.

“I was able to do that, too... sometimes,” Claudia muttered.

“Claudia?” Bernd said. His wife turned around, “Yes?”

“Would you mind, exchanging seats with Regina, here?” he asked,

“I don't feel good, I would like to have you near.”

“What?” Claudia frowned, then she blinked in confusion, “Ähm, of course?”

She got up and shooed her daughter away.

Regina looked at her father.

He winked at her.

She understood and returned the gesture, then she sat down next to Aleksander, who immediately put an arm around her.

“Don't worry about those childhood stories, I am not using them against you,” he murmured into her ear.

“Thanks, but that's not the point – it's just, ach,” Regina shook her head, trying to shake away the blush, that still crept over her cheeks.

He took her other hand in his, this time properly, his thumb stroked over her skin.

“Bernd?” Claudia asked impatiently, “What's wrong?”

She immediately held the back of her fingers against his forehead, “Are you feeling ill?“

Bernd gently pushed her hand away from his skin,

“I told you a thousand times, that hands are easily influenced. If you actually want to test, if I have a fever, use your lips.”

“You wish!” Claudia crossed her arms and let herself fall on Regina's spot.

“I just want you to sit next to me, because I love you – very much,” he told her.

His outspokenness always impressed her.

It was something that had came with the loss of his ability to walk.

He expressed his feelings more openly, since he really became aware of his age.

Claudia never was the one for saying things like that out loud.

Of course, she loved him, too.

It felt good to hear, that he still felt the same, even after all those years... but now Claudia only raised her eyebrows at him.

“The two people next to you,” he continued with a witty smile,

“Need to sit next to each other of this reason, as well.”

Claudia peered over to her daughter, who was tightly engulfed in the arms of the man, next to her.

“You know what, Bernd,” Claudia hissed, “Next time, just tell me!”

In a more gentle tone, she added “Don't fake being ill,” she shook her head,

“You scare me every damn time and I don't want to be scared when it comes to you,” she swallowed, trying to keep her posture.

“Ach, Claudia. I am fine, love,“ he took her hand.

“And I am worried _._ “

Bernd raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Claudia sighed, but she moved closer to him and kept on holding her husband's hand, during the whole church service.

Regina instantly got up and went over to Hannah, after the gathering was over.

Hannah looked very distressed.

Regina had just witnessed, that Torben had left the church earlier, than the others.

She offered her to take Jonas out of his mother's arms.

  
“Yes, here – Jonas go to your Auntie Gina for a moment,” Hannah handed the baby to her, “I need some air –”

“Is everything alright?” Regina asked her worriedly.

“Yeah, I don't know – Torben is acting strange. He acts strangely around Peter – do you know if something happened between them?”

Regina shook her head, “I think, it is Peter, who acts not like he would normally, it's probably nothing,” she tried to calm her friend.

Jonas grabbed onto her hair, “Who was a very brave godson, during this awful water-over-head-pouring-moment?”

Regina tickled the baby under his chin and he squeaked, “Yes, you!” She laughed,

“I am so grateful for being part of his godparents army, Hannah,” Regina smiled at her.

“I couldn't do it without you, so thank you,” Hannah sighed tiredly.

“Look, who is the next one to catch a pregnancy!” Katharina snarled, as she joined Regina and Baby Jonas.

Regina chuckled.

As they slowly followed Hannah out of the church, Claudia crossed their path.

She had a hand wrapped around Aleksander's arm and her long fingers caressed over the fabric of his coat.

“Huch,” said Regina, “My Mama probably just ditched her husband.”

“Mind your parents! They will adopt Aleksander,” Katharina remarked annoyed.

“Are you jealous, Kathi?” Regina laughed and caressed over Jonas' cheek. He still tugged on her strand of hair.

“I am concerned.”

“And I am happy,” Regina smiled at her, “And I am not planning a baby, in the next time,”

“It happens sooner than you think,” Katharina crossed her arms, while they walked along the others out of the nave.

“No need to be jealous. Don't worry, you are still Mama's and Papa's favourite Schatz, and mine, too.

But for now, would you mind taking our godson to Hannah?” she handed Jonas over to Katharina,

“I need to save the potential father of _my_ own future baby son out of my mother's grip!” she kissed Jonas' head and left.

“Do you even listen to yourself? What did you just said? _Future baby son_ – what the hell is wrong with you?”

Katharina almost yelled after her, “Listen to your Auntie Kathi, Jonas – your Auntie Gina is a mad woman!”

“What happened to Torben's eye?” Aleksander asked into her ear, as they sat next to each other at the dinner table in the Wöller's house.

All around them the air was filled with the noises of conversations and laughter,

“That's what I'd like to know, as well,” Regina said thoughtfully, “It's actually another mystery.”

Aleksander moved his chair a little closer to her, “You actually never kept your promise, Regina,”

he took her hand, “Peter and you – why are you both called Doppler?”

Regina laughed, “Oh you're right! I am sorry,” she leaned towards him,

“I was too lost in your eyes that night to remember, that I promised to tell you about the complexity of Winden's family trees.”

He returned her smile and they both kissed, before she continued,

“Look around,” she said, “Do you see Peter?”

Aleksander nodded.

His eyes went for him.

Regina watched his face, “Peter's late grandmother Greta was married to my father – have you spotted _Bernd_?” she grinned,

Aleksander's eyes moved around the room,

“I have,” he replied, “His foster-son Helge,” she smiled as Aleksander's eye dared between him and Helge,

“who is my big brother, married Ulla.”

“She's over there!”

Regina intertwined her fingers with his,

“I am amazed, by the way you learned all those names and faces by heart so fast.”

“Of course,” Aleksander looked at Regina again and shook his head, “It's your family!”

“My father met my mother Claudia and then I was born. That's the connection.”

Aleksander chuckled, “I still can't believe he's your nephew!”

“Me neither. He's months older than me,” Regina shrugged her shoulders.

“I prefer this over him being your boyfriend,” Aleksander said.

Regina shook her head at him,

“Did you really thought – Peter _and me_?” she couldn't help but giggle.

“I have to admit, I immediately needed to know, if you're single or not.”

“And you didn't even got my last name yet, back then,” Regina reminded him and he laughed.

An adoring blush wandered over his cheeks.

She leaned in and captured his lips with her own,

“You,” she kissed him again, “are my boyfriend.”

“I'm glad, we agree on that,” he said against her lips.

Seeing Regina surrounded by the people she loved the most was beautiful.

Her face was illuminated by her own bright smiles and glowing eyes.

He was leaning against the door frame and watched how Regina, who sat at the dinner table only a few inches away, giggled with Bernadette.

The sound of her laugh warmed him from the inside.

His gaze wandered through the living room of the Wöller's house.

His eyes met with a pair of grey-blue.

An elderly woman was starring at him from across.

She stood next to a window, her hand grabbed on the sill.

Her dark hair, with the one light strand, felt utterly familiar to him.

She was here with Peter's parents – a family friend and something like an another aunt to Regina.

She raised her chin and made an affirmative nod into his direction.

Aleksander put his glass down on the table and Regina reached for his arm.

“Are you okay?” she enquired.

“Yes, of course,” he gave her a smile, “I just feel the need to introduce myself to someone.”

Regina's eyes followed his, she understood.

“Do you want me to come with you?” she caressed his arm.

Aleksander shook his head, “That's kind of you, but no need for that, I just want to make sure she knows me, she means something to you, doesn't she?”

“She does indeed,” Regina wasn't sure, if she should warn him...

But actually she knew how well he handled conversations and she wanted him to get his own idea of Jana.

 _Plus, it feels wrong to warn people about her,_ Regina thought,

 _Jana is lovely, she says scary things, but she is still a person, who should be treated respectfully_ –

no, never in her life, would Regina talk in a bad manner about her again,

so she nodded and Aleksander bowed down to peck her lips, before he went over to the window.

“Hello,” he began and Jana looked from his eyes down to his extended hand.

“I am Aleksander Köhler,” he continued and still kept the gesture –

Regina hold her breath, “Berni,” she whispered, but her friend's eyes were already pulled to the scene, as well, as the others.

In a second every noise seemed to be drained from the room.

Just the strange woman and the stranger man standing in front of another, unmovingly.

“I know,” Jana replied, “You are very similar to yourself, but you are the most honest of all.”

Aleksander shook his head.

“You don't see it, but I've seen the other you,” she told him and her lips moved into a smile,

“It's in the subtle difference. The truth is always worth it.”

Aleksander took a deep breath, “It is,” he replied.

“Everything is okay,” Jana said and took his hand and shook it.

“I have no clue what just happened,” Bernadette whispered, “But that man is _Jana-approved_. Good choice, Gina.”

  
Aleksander and Jana talked till the of the evening.

Somehow he was able to communicate with her, even tho it was sheer impossible,

that he knew what she was talking about for the whole time.

He just managed to get her back into the situation and Jana seemed to need the attention and Aleksander's listening abilities.

The moments when Jana turned her head and talked about the storm outside, none of the others and him were able to see, he didn't even blink an eye.

“I guess, I am falling for him,” Regina admitted,

while she and her mother stood in the doorway and watched how Aleksander helped Peter with taking Jana over the lawn to Helge's car.

Jana's arm was linked with Aleksander's and she still talked insistently to him.

“You guess?” Claudia asked.

She threw her head back in laughter, “Oh, Gina-deer, you are already in love, don't you see it? He is, too.”

Her mother wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

“Thank you,” she said and hugged Aleksander, after her mother had left inside the house again, with an obvious wink.

“What for?” he asked.

She leaned back and rolled her eyes with a smile,

“For _bearing the brunt_ my family and my friends are. For making it through the day and doing so good.”

“Of course, it was amazing. Thank you, that I was allowed to be part of it.”

She hugged him again.

“Hey!” Katharina interrupted them. Regina and Aleksander flinched at her loud voice.

“Your parents asked for you, Gina. They want to leave, as well.”

Her narrowed eyes fixated dismissively on Aleksander.

“Uhm, okay,” she let go of Aleksander,

“Then I'll go to them, I guess,” Regina turned around and as she passed Katharina, she angrily mouthed _WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?_

Aleksander followed her, but he didn't got far. Katharina grabbed tight on his arm and stopped him,

“Why can't I find anything about you Aleksander Köhler?” Katharina hissed,

“What kind of never publishing journalist are you?” she asked and her fingertips pierced into the fabric.

He yanked his arm out of her grip, “I publish under a pseudonym,” he told her ostensibly calm and amicable.

“Here,” he took the key ring out of his coat pocket and removed one of the flash drives from it.

He threw it over to her and she caught it,

“Every article I selled over the last months. Search for Bartosz Niewald. Compare them. If you need proof for my existance – there it is!”

Katharina opened her mouth,

“Before you ask,” Aleksander cut her short, “Regina knows that.”

“What for a name is that?”

“One that I like, more than my own.”

“I swear,” Katharina said and moved towards him,

“If you hurt her – I promise you, I'll destroy you,” she pointed her finger over his shoulder, in the direction Regina had vanished,

“She is the purest and loveliest person I know. This is my sister. I love her more, than anything in this life*. Don't you dare to harm her.”

Aleksander hold Katharina's gaze, “I am falling in love with her.”

Still standing in the hallway, out of their sight, Regina listened to every word.

Her heart beated fast in her chest.

_You are already in love, don't you see it? He is, too._

Her mother's words echoed in her mind.

Her whole life had been ruled by a messed up sleep schedule and a certain bitter unrest, that nothing could calm.

Tonight, with him at her side, she almost forgot about it – as they slowly sunk into each others arms along their kisses,

Regina knew, that she never wanted anything more, than Aleksander...

... and her gallery, her family, her friends – and nights without nightmares –

and the realsation, that right now, she held everything of that in her heart, made her almost tear up from happiness.

As the night ended she couldn't even remember, if she ever had slept so soundly and peacefully.

The following weeks felt like a series of film scenes accompanied with music from Frank Sinatra.

Since they stayed up late together during the nights, they walked around the woods in daylight.

Regina felt as if her world was exploding in colours, she never had noticed before.

If Aleksander wasn't busy writing and selling articles to save up money or visiting Regina in the gallery,

he pretended to Clausen, that he still was reading through hacked files of the clinic.

In the meantime he actually tried to search through Clausen's work, to find evidence of who had gave them the task of investigating against the Dopplers.

One early moring, Aleksander and Regina sat on the wooden chairs in the yard of her house.

The morning was early, the birds chirped effordlessly and Regina felt how the steam, which swirled out of her cup of coffee, warmed her face.

“Your coffee tastes much better, than Ines',” she reached over and squeezed Aleksander's hand.

“What a compliment,” he chuckled, “I have to go now,” he sighed and got up.

“Clausen needs to scream at you for spending another week-end only with me,” Regina smiled and put down the cup.

As she got up, as well, he put an arm around her shoulders and they walked back inside,

“Always worth it,” he said and pressed a kiss into her hair.

By the door, Regina took off Aleksander's scarf, which she always wore, when they went outside.

Gently she wrapped the cloth around his neck and smoothered over the fabric on his shoulders.

“Come here,” he whispered and cupped her face with his hands,

they kissed each other goodbye and Regina leaned in the door frame, watching him walk into the day.

The ringing of her phone startled her back into reality.

“Ginaaa,” there was a hint of a whine in Katharina's voice, “Are you at your gallery?”

“No, I am still home, what's wrong?” she asked and sat down, taking another sip from Aleksander's deliously brewed coffee.

“Can you come over to my mom's? I need a grown-up here.”

“Is she ill?” Regina asked worriedly, while she rushed over to the door to get into her coat again.

“No, no – in perfect health as always –

but her heating boiler is leaking and she doesn't want to get anyone to fix it and I don't know – she stresses me out, come and save me!”

“Should I get Claudia with me?” Regina asked, her mother had often talked to Frau Albers, in cases of quarrels between the two.

When Katharina was a teenager, Claudia had accompanied her home, when there was trouble at school or when her grades were slipping, making sure that nothing escalated.

Claudia also made sure, that Katharina got tutoring from her and even established, that Katharina spent the nights, when her mother was working night shifts, not alone on her own, but over at the Doppler's.

Katharina declined the offer, while Regina snatched her car keys from the commode next to the door.

For a moment, she hesitated, a sticky-note was attached to them.

_I guess, I already miss you. Drive carefully. A._

She sighed with a smile.

“Did you say something?” Katharina asked,

“No, no –” Regina pinned the note on the mirror, next to the countless others,

which Aleksander had left for her in the house to find them.

“I am on my way,” she told her best friend.

Helene Albers had her arms crossed in front of her body, a grim look on her face, she didn't even greeted Regina, as she walked in.

Katharina's mother never liked neither her nor Claudia much.

Not being able to overlook the chaos in the basement, she turned around to Katharina,

“I am sorry, I don't know what to do either,” shrugged her shoulders helplessly, “Perhaps we should call some kind of service...”

“No,” the stern voice of Katharina's mother interrupted Regina's loud thinking process, “I don't want strangers in my home!”

“Mama!” Katharina complained.

_Strangers_...

“Wait!” Regina exclaimed cheery, “I have a boyfriend now! I can call him!”

Katharina raised her eyebrows at her,

“Are you serious? What happened to being independent women, who don't need any men to fix their problems? Has he already kissed your brain away?”

Regina giggled, “Aleksander is a metalworker, Kathi,”

she took out her phone,

“He can actually help you here. And Frau Albers,”

Regina looked over her shoulder, meeting the icy gaze of Helene, “He is no stranger.”

Helene left the basement wordlessly.

“Okay, if you say so,” Katharina rolled her eyes, “What kind of _journalist_ is he again?”

“I welded the leck for you,” Aleksander explained in very friendly and unagitated tone to Katharina's mother.

“It's a fix it for now,” and he looked at Katharina, “and I can call someone to look at it for you.”

Katharina nodded in agreement, “That would be kind,” she said remorsefully.

“Then that's it,” he shook Helene's hand, “Have a good day.”

“Wtf, Gina – who is he? Mama just smiled,” Katharina whispered to Regina,

as they followed the two of them out of the basement and through the door of the apartment building complex.

Regina caught up with them and wrapped her arms around his middle,

“Thank you,” she told him and he kissed her temple, his arm laid on her shoulders again.

Back on the street in front of the house, Aleksander turned to Katharina,

“Did you got a chance to read my articles, yet?” he grinned and Katharina rolled her eyes,

“I am sorry for thinking you were a potential trash dude,” she put the flash drive into the palm of his extended hand.

“No need to feel sorry, Katharina,” he said. “I need to go back to the office,” he said and smiled sadly at Regina.

She wiped some smeared soot from his chin, “See you later,” she said and smiled, while he kissed her goodbye.

“I'm just saying, if you really love me you would share him”* Katharina nudged her shoulder against Regina's as Aleksander was out of earshot.

Regina laughed out loud.

What a relief, that Katharina finally seemed to let go of her grudges against Aleksander...

> _The love that you gave, keeps me here_
> 
> _And calling out your name, keeps me here_
> 
> _For the light was not there_
> 
> _For years, upon years_
> 
> \- Emily Jane White, _Nightmares on repeat_

* * *

Jana looks out the window again.

The storm begins to swirl even wilder in front of her eyes.

She can feel the blowing of the wind on her skin.

The eye becomes clearer, with each night.

Ulla and Helge watch Jana from the door.

Their gazes meet and Ulla shakes her head.

The unknown figure puts the lighter down and opens a bible.

The book of Matthew.

The words “An eye for an eye” are marked with a red pen.

Clausen adds a building plan of the _Tiedemann_ gallery into an email attachment.

The adress line says “ _Doppler client_ ”.

He takes his phone and deals a number.

“It's about the Doppler's daughter,” he says, “What do you think?”

For a moment, he listens to the voice on the other side.

“No, she quit taking the pills weeks ago.”

Silence.

“She's too clever and everybody in town loves her.”

Clausen laughs bitter,

“Me neither. She is a problem.”

Claudia and Bernd sit together at their dinner table.

Bernd tells her something.

His face is twisted with worries.

He slides a folder over to her.

Claudia opens it and flicks through the pages.

Her eyes hectically move back and forth.

The moment she understands what the words in front of her mean, she puts a hand in front of her mouth in shock.

She raised her head and looks at her husband in disbelief.

“Why didn't you tell me, Bernd?” she asks upset.

His chin starts quivering and he shuts his eyes tight.

He puts a trembling hand above his face.

Claudia gets up and wraps her arms tightly around his torso.

She gently caress over his hair,

“It's not your fault,” she whispers and he clenches on her arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the medical parts in the last chapters, I have no clue about the business of metalworkers as well, so I just let Aleksander do welding, like in the series haha.
> 
> Perhaps you noticed, I used four songs this time! All the lyrics fit so well and the music is the vibe, I needed to write all those scenes – plus each of them gives me a little bit DARK Soundtrack vibes (especially the last one 'nightmares on repeat') so I couldn't help using all of them, cause they inspired me so much <3
> 
> *these are quotes from the outstanding Hamilton musical, I couldn't resist including them here! I'm sorry, not sorry for the earworms :) There will be one other hamilton related thing in one of the following chapters :)
> 
> Thanks for all your patience <3  
> Lots of love!
> 
> dear peaches_n_roses, this chapter is for you!  
> you are the best for dealing with my zodiac-signs-meme obsession! <3  
> you are the best for hyping me up, motivating me and carrying me through all the uncertainness <3  
> You are my favourite energy & an inspiration 24/7, so let's overwhelm you with kudos and hugs! <3


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